CITY OF THE DAMNED
by bobdabuilder0804
Summary: COMPLETE Post S3. Big changes for Jack and a new threat on the way. Closest allies are now enemies. Can he stop the threat before time runs out? COMPLETE
1. Prologue

_This is the prologue for a new fic, which I haven't thought of a name for yet! It is mainly setting the scene for what's to come, and gives you the general drift of how the characters are doing and where they went from Season 3. _

Prologue.

Jack sat in his office chair, slumped forward with his elbows resting on the wooden desk either side of his computer keyboard. He was staring at the screen but not really seeing any of the information produced upon it. He had zoned out again, while thoughts of his daughter fluttered throughout his mind, a constant remainder to him of his failure. He had lost all recognition of time and space, it was just him and his thoughts, and images of Kim. It would be another day in the office with nothing to show for it, except maybe even more guilt and regret, if that was possible. He wasn't too concerned about the work which continued to pile up before him, he would rather spend his time thinking of her, seeing her. It was the only way he could spend time with her now, as a still frame in his mind. Photographs and sentimental things held no value for him anymore, he would simply look right through them. No, this was the only way he could feel her again, until she finally decided to allow him into her new life. Almost 6 months had passed and he couldn't forgive himself or accept his daughters abrupt departure from his life. 

He had suffered a mixture of shock and devastation when she had left. He remembered returning home to see her possessions gone as though he was reliving it again this very moment. He could still see the scribbled yet simple note left on the countertop, held down by a framed photo of their family before Terri passed, acting as a paper weight. He had memorised the words, as though trying to find some hidden meaning for it all beneath them. He found nothing. 

At first he hadn't wanted to accept it. His mind went in overdrive, clearly in denial. '_Maybe she was taken again and someone took her stuff to cover it up?'_ He hadn't believed the theory himself yet he still tracked her down to the local shop she was now buying her groceries from. However, he was undoubtedly convinced after a brief phone conversation with her, and was even more so convinced of his role in chasing her away from LA. 

He closed his eyes as he remembered how cold her voice sounded through the phone, almost emotionless. Her words had been harsh and had stung him upon reception._ "Don't follow me. Don't visit me. Please don't call me. I'm making a clean start. I'll call you, when I'm ready... If I'm ready."_ He could still sense her hesitation as she had hastily added the last part on. Jack couldn't help but think it was the last time he would speak to his daughter again; it felt like the final goodbye. He remembered how he had accepted her wishes, but it was now eating away at him slowly while his demeanour was slowly deteriorating throughout the waiting process. 

His thoughts roamed to things closer to the present, and fixed on how he had been demoted from his position as Director of C.T.U back down to Director of Field Ops. He hadn't been too concerned, it had only been temporarily anyway, since his return and until Tony was no longer under investigation. But he did notice the coincidence, how Tony had been cleared of any charges the day before his own demotion, then appointed with his old position a day later. He wasn't too bothered, slightly embarrassed maybe, but at least Tony was someone he believed he could trust. 

He knew he normally would be happy that Tony wasn't a suit who would get his hands dirty, but he realised that that didn't matter to him anymore, nothing did now Kim was gone. He was often too busy analysing himself trying to find which thing about him had scared her away the most, which one had triggered her move. He was more interested in pinpointing the exact moment of his life when it all went wrong than worrying about who rolled there sleeves up and did the job these days. 

----- 

Whilst Jack continued on with his self analysis Chloé sat at her terminal staring in his direction across the upper floor of C.T.U, conflict written all over her face. _'He is doing it again,_' she thought to herself as she continued to watch him. Part of her was angry at this, but another side was worried about him. She picked up her phone and rang the extension to his office, hoping this would bring him from his self inflicted trance. She watched cautiously as he flinched when the phones loud ringing noise disturbed him, but then turned his attention back to his computer screen, ignoring the continuos ringing after tossing it a curious glance. He couldn't be bothered with anything today he though miserably. He waited for the annoying disruptance to stop before returning to his thoughts. 

Chloés worry steered more to anger now, annoyed that he was ignoring her call when he clearly herd it. She silently contemplated what to do and decided to call Tony. After all, Jack was his problem now he was in charge, and he had dealt with him a few days ago when Jack was a no show at the conference meeting Hammond had had scheduled with him for weeks. '_Yes_,' she thought, '_Tony will know exactly what to do. He managed to get him out of his mess that time, so he can sort him out this time._' 

She dialled the extension to his new office, nervously tapping her foot against the floor, for some reason telling on Jack didn't feel right. She didn't mind snooping or telling tales on other people, but for some reason this felt different, it felt wrong. Still, she decided that it would be best, after all, Jack was no different from anyone else and he was still breaking protocol. 

"C.T.U Almeida." Tony answered, as usual. It still felt weird to him to answer the phone this way again, after being suspended for just over 6 months in total, including the duration of his investigation. He idly wondered if Jack had felt the this when he first returned, even though he was only gone for 3 or 4 months himself. Before they had cleared him physically to go back, and of all of the mess he had made throughout the course of their covert operation to obtain possession of the deadly virus. He then wondered about how strange it must have been for him to come back one the day of the nuclear bomb, over a year of absence and then he was thrown back in. He snapped these pointless thoughts out of his head as he herd Chloés nervous drawl down the other end of the line. He sighed to himself, he could only wonder what she was going to complain about now. 

"What's up Chloé?" He asked, trying to keep his tone even. He had no idea why she was ringing, and it could be about anything. From double checking some data to reporting someone for doing this that or the other. It was the later. 

After waiting a minute to build her courage up she blurted it out. "Its Jack." 

"What about him?" Tony asked, rubbing his eyes wearily at the same time, because of both the irritation Chloé caused him, and having to deal with Jacks declining behaviour again. 

"He's sat in his office counting the wall tiles, Tony, he's in his own little world doing nothing. I rang his extension to try snap him out of it, he didn't even bothering answering, it could have been something important!" She paused a minute for a breather as she got her thoughts into processing order, before continuing. "Look, I know it may seem I am telling tales, but I'm not this time. He is responsible for Field Ops, and given his present declining state over the past few weeks I don't know if he's capable." 

Tony interrupted, and Chloé was made clear that she had overstepped her bounds, and touched a stray nerve. 

"Jack is the most capable person in this office when he is asleep, Chloé. So stop checking up on him, and give him some slack, okay. He's having a hard time right now, and its none of your concern how he is running his department, got it?!" He snapped. 

"It will be my concern when this place goes down the gutter and I'm out of a job Tony!" She shrieked. "I was just trying to help, but your in charge so you can deal with it. I'm not covering for him anymore, he is your responsibility." 

She had slammed the phone down before he could reply, which he was slightly thankful for. He knew anyone else in the office would be suspended for the blatant lack of respect she had just showed to her superior, but Chloé was a special case, she had no knowledge of manners or respect. 

Tony climbed up the metal staircase with the intention of speaking to Jack. He wasn't sure what to say or which approach to take. He decided that the best way would probably be to be straight with him - Jack would probably appreciate that more. He walked towards the office and could see him sat staring at his computer screen, a bored expression on his face. He pushed through the door and greeted Jack. Jack looked up slowly and sighed, less than enthusiastic to see him. 

"How's it going up here?" Tony asked, trying to be friendly while sitting down on the couch in the corner of the room, so he was facing him. 

"What's up Tony?" Jack asked, no wandering around the question, he knew he would be here for a reason. If he wanted a chat he would have rang from his office.  
  
Tony sighed. He didn't like doing the authoritative thing, it felt wrong to him. He was still used to Jack being in charge, but now it was the other way round, and it made him feel uncomfortable. At least when Jack had first come back they were both in charge, but now it was he who was the boss. He wondered how Jack felt about this. 

"Someone from you team has suggested you may not be stable enough to run Field Ops." He broke off to shush Jack with the waving of his hand before continuing. "Look me and you both know what's what, so lets just forget about that for a moment. Okay, just look at this from my side Jack. I've got the higher ups busting my as questioning me about you none stop, complaining about you, with all of these little things that keep slipping your mind. And I know they aren't slipping your mind, your just ignoring them, being a no show at Hammonds meeting has put you at the top of his list of people to crucify. I'm trying to defend you to them, making it sound like the suns shining out of your as, then you do nothing to help me." He stopped and sighed, clearly frustrated. 

Jack spoke, his voice even. "Then let me give you some advice, Tony. Stop defending me. It would make your life a lot easier." 

"Why are you being like this Jack?" Tony asked, standing up and pacing the office as though it would help him find the answers. "Kim is not going to let you back into her life if you throw away what's left of it!" He hoped the talk of Kim would get him thinking. It didn't. 

"Leave Kim out of it, she's got nothing to do with this, she's gone now." He said quietly. 

"She is _'this,'_ Jack, don't you see that?" He asked, his voice rising with his anger that Jack couldn't understand this as easy as he could. 

"I said leave it Tony." He snapped threateningly. 

Tony sank back down into the couch again, taking his thoughts down a different route. 

"Did you see the shrink? What did they say?" He asked softly. 

Jack let out a slight laugh before saying, "I believe, there is such a thing as doctor patient confidentiality." He knew Tony wouldn't accept I but it would help him stall some more. 

"Come on Jack - you know that unless you give me something I'm gonna' have to refer you to our department one, and that's the last thing you want." Tony knew full well that the only reason Jack had seen one on his own was to prevent this from going forward in the first place. 

Jack laughed again and rubbed the back of his neck. "We talked and he gave me some anti depressants." His voice was sheepish now, embarrassed slightly. 

"Have you been taking them?" He stopped when he saw the sharp glance Jack gave him. 

"Okay, okay." Tony said holding his hands up in surrender mode. The last thing he wanted to do was alienate Jack from himself, who knew what he would do then. 

Jack watched Tony from behind his desk, he was getting increasingly annoyed with him. He was acting all concerned and worried, but Jack knew how he really felt. The harsh words Tony threw at him about his sacrifice, his wife, on the day of the virus crept into his mind often - especially when Tony played the nice guy with him - the friend. Jack knew he really didn't care, he was just acting the part so he can try to handle him. Jack played along to humour him and get him off his back - but he knew what Tony was really, and it was far from a concerned friend. He stood up with that thought and grabbed his brown jacket from the locker and shrugged it on while Tony watched confused. 

"I'm going to see Chase for a while. I'll be back later." 

"Jack your shift hasn't ended." Tony yelled after him, but it did no good. 

Jack calmly strode out of his office and down the steps to the main floor. Tony watched through the window as he exited C.T.U. He got up and thumped his fist on the desk, frustrated. No matter what he did or how hard he tried he couldn't control Jack. He shook his head as he left the office and headed back downstairs to his own station, annoyed and at a loss as to what to do with him. 

----- 

Jack pulled up outside the little white house and rubbed his eyes while he contemplated what he was doing here. He hadn't seen Chase in quite some time, and the last time he had spoken to him was when Chase had called, confirming Kim's actions with him. It had been clear then that they were both reacting the same way. That was the last time they had made contact with each other. 

He got out of the car and slammed the door behind him, before walking up the block paved driveway and ringing the doorbell, wondering to himself just what he was doing there. Chase answered the door and was surprised when he saw Jack stood in his porch, with his hands in his pockets, a look of defeat similar to the one Chase held in his eyes. He invited him in and offered him a drink, which Jack declined. 

They both stood awkwardly in the living room around the small coffee table, neither sure what to say. Finally, Chase cut to the chase. _(Lol, I had to!)_

__

"So what's up Jack?" 

"I just wanted to see how you were doing, since you left C.T.U, how have things been?" His voice conveyed his concern, and he couldn't help occasionally glancing at the stump on the end of his wrist. 

"Things were going fine, until Kim left me." Chase couldn't help but let his bitterness show in his voice at the last part. He clearly blamed Jack for Kim going. 

"Yeah, I'm sorry, I guess she pulled a number on us both." Jack laughed sheepishly, trying to ease the tension, but Chase took this as an attack on Kim. 

"I don't think she pulled a number on us Jack, she had plenty of reasons to leave." He starred at him while he spoke, his words crisp, allowing his pain to show through. 

"What are you saying ... are you saying she left because of me?" Jack asked, taken back by Chase's accusations. He already knew the answer to the question, of course he blamed himself, but he thought that Chase had played a role in it too. He didn't believe it was entirely his fault. 

"Yes." Chase stated blankly. Jack stood staring at him dumbfounded, so Chase continued once sure he wasn't going to get a reaction from Jack. 

"She left because of you. No offence Jack, but you were a drug addict, and you kept that from her. You have no idea how many nights she would cry herself to sleep thinking about that, even after you were clean." He stared at Jack, not feeling the guilt he would normally expect from clearly hurting him. 

Jack swallowed, before again trying to ease the tension Chase seemed intent in creating between them. 

"Look, I didn't come here to start something, I just wanted to see how-" 

"Don't start trying to play the martyr to me Jack!" Chase yelled. "The only reason your here is to make yourself feel better, because you she left because of you." 

This time Jack couldn't keep his mouth shut. He retaliated, he wanted to hurt Chase now, as much as he had just hurt him. 

"No Chase, I don't want to make myself feel better. Although you may not understand this, you played just a big a part as me in making her leave. She obviously couldn't handle the pressure of being an instant mom to your child, which you lied to her about!" His voice now livid, his eyes mad. 

The two stared at each other and Chase spoke again, he was not going to back down to Jack this time and he wasn't going to let him get what he wanted.  
  
"You tell yourself that Jack, if it helps you sleep at night. But I did everything for Kim - I transferred from Field Ops. for her, something you never did for-" 

Jacks cell rang, wisely preventing Chase from finishing his sentence, and Jack from ripping his throat out if he had continued with what Jack assumed he was going to say. 

He took a few deep breaths through his nose before answering. "Bauer." He snapped, his anger evident in his voice. 

"Jack its Tony. I know you had stuff to do but we need you here, we just received some new intelligence, you should come see it." 

Jack nodded silently before snapping his phone shut. 

He looked at Chase and shook his head sadly. "I never came here for this." 

He turned to leave and let himself out. Before he closed the door before Chase shouted after him. 

"Good luck with whatever sh!t is about to hit the fan this time." 

Jack nodded at him, and Chase did the same back, it was like a mutual understanding between them, acceptance even, of the event which had torn them apart. 

Jack never gave their parting words a second thought. The fact that they could easily be misinterpreted never crossed his mind. He stared up his car and pulled away. Chase sat down on the coffee table and held his cell tightly in his only hand whilst he thought to himself. 

A defiant smirk slowly spread across his face. 

----- 

_Please review!_


	2. Self Destruction

City of the Damned.

Jack found the drive back to C.T.U slow, too slow. It gave him time to think, which was never a good thing. Especially after a truthful yet hurtful conversation with Chase, someone who he used to trust, but now was another name to add onto the endless list of people he had failed. He leant onto the wheel as he tried to remember when he and Chase had lost what they briefly had together, a relationship of trust and understanding, mutual respect for one another. 

He thought that maybe it was in Mexico, the kid hadn't understood, and probably never would understand, why he had pulled the trigger of the gun which had rested against his temple. Jack himself thought it was Kim which had triggered it. They had spoken often after his surgery, although he knew that the fact that they couldn't save his hand had taken its toll on Chase too. Jack thought that Chase had resented him for it, even if it had saved his life in the end. He shook his head as he realised it didn't mater when it had happened, it had and that was all there was too it. Just like everything else, he needed to forget it and move onwards, even if there seemed to be less and less to move on for, he had to keep going. There was nothing else for him to do. 

His fingers were wrapped around the steering wheel tightly as he tried to relieve some of the tension from his body, he felt ready to explode. He was becoming increasingly frustrated with the slow moving traffic, but wasn't that enthusiastic to get back to C.T.U, so he didn't bother dodging through the line of vehicles as he usually would, instead he just sat their like everyone else. He rubbed at his eyes and pulled the visor down, risking a glance at himself in the small mirror attached to it. He quickly looked away again, he didn't liked to be reminded of who he was if he could help it. He would rather forget, but he didn't have a choice. 

After finally arriving at C.T.U Jack broke into a stride as he entered the building, unnecessarily flashed his badge to the man on security as he passed through the main door. He was glad to be out of the cramped confines of the vehicle, trapped with himself and his thoughts. He quickly scanned the main floor but didn't see Tony so he headed up to his office. He thought about the phone call and wondered what was happening this time. In a sick way he realised he wouldn't mind a national terrorist strike right now, it would give him something to focus on, and would distract him for a while in the very least. 

He tried to remember the last time he had been so involved in his work that he lost track of time, that the demons couldn't find him. Not like these days, where his eyes were always on the clock, as though he was waiting for something to happen. What, he didn't know. He just hoped it happened soon, he was getting tired of waiting for nothing. He quickly shut out those thoughts as his mind flickered back to the last time he had been fully involved in anything, it had been the preparation work before he left for Mexico... which had eventually led to the departure of Kim. He rubbed his eyes again in a weak attempt to get the image of her and her new life out of his mind. It didn't work. 

He could picture her there, free of any worries or regrets and most of all, free of him. Most of all, he could picture her happy, which was an image he rarely saw after he took her mother away from her. Jack began to feel even worse as he could imagine just how happy Kim would be without him, yet he still wanted to ruin this picturesque image and go see her. He knew doing so would upset her, but he thought it would be worth it for all of the pleasure it would bring himself. He closed his eyes as he realised he should add another word to his list of the negative traits he housed. Selfish. 

He opened his top drawer and fumbled through its contents until he found the little white tub containing his anti-depressants which the shrink had insisted he take. He studied the bottle and read the label through before letting out a slight laugh. He didn't know why he was laughing, it was just something to do, while his mind was swamped with thoughts. The thoughts of Kim were still coming through, dampening everything and dimming the little light he lad left in the process. He tossed the bottle into the wastepaper bin in the corner of the room and smiled as he saw it go straight in. He knew he didn't need the pills. Snapping him from his thoughts his extension rang, he knew it would be Tony. He reached across the desk and pulled the phone from its cradle. 

"Bauer." 

"Jack its me." Tony said, on the other end of the line. Jack could detect a mix of annoyance and worry in his voice as he spoke. He didn't speak and so the silence between them grew before Tony realised he should continue. 

"Look, you missed the initial briefing so I'm gonna have to fill you in. I want you to come up to my office, now." He didn't wait for a reply, instead he hung the phone up instantly. Dealing with Jack was becoming increasingly difficult and he was running out of ideas for how to handle him. He was scared he was going to lose his grip on him. He knew that if he did, Jack would be out of control. 


	3. Consider Your Ass Covered

Jack plodded down the stairs hearing a slight scowl as he passed Chloés station. He didn't look at her, he didn't acknowledge her. He didn't want to have to deal with her right now he wasn't up to it. He stood outside the door to Tony's new office for a few minutes as he quickly collected his thoughts and tried to focus his attention on whatever task would come forth this time. He knew he had to pull himself together. How was he going to get lost in his work is he couldn't make himself care about it? 

He pushed through his old office door and surveyed the room as he always did, silently noting the changes since it belonged to him. He saw Tony stand up to greet him and the two men stood there just a few feet apart, both unsure of how to proceed. Tony realised that he was treading on eggshells again, and so he broke the silence, determined to get on with his job. Jack's problems were his own and it would do himself no good getting wrapped up in them too. To break the uncomfortable silence which was forming between them he asked how the visit to Chase had gone. Jack replied with a nod of the head and a brief response which consisted of _'Fine_.' After waiting a few seconds Tony realised Jack wasn't going to elaborate, so he went straight down to business. 

"Take a seat." He said while motioning to the chairs before the desk he was now sat behind. The very same desk he himself had sat at, but that was a long time ago. It felt like a different lifetime, and perhaps it was. 

Jack slowly took a seat as his surroundings continued to throw random memories at him. He turned his attention back to Tony and noticed that he was now tapping on the keyboard. He spoke, but his eyes were still stuck to the screen. 

"We received some intel from Divison, just before I called you. It somehow managed to get lost in their system and didn't get to go through the usual process as a result, which is why we got this on such short notice. Divison saw it and handed it to us, there way of covering their asses, they wanted nothing to do with it."

"What does it say?" Jack asked, not really interested in hearing Divisions excuses for screwing up once again. 

"You know the demonstration, going off down town tonight at St. Marks cathedral?" 

Jack frowned momentarily as he scanned through all of the information in his mind. "The anti-race protest?" He asked. 

"Yes. The cathedral is 5 storeys high and made of pure stone. There expecting at least 7000 protesters packed in there, and God knows how many people in the immediate area. Most of them black." 

Jack knew why he had mentioned the colour of these people. If something did go wrong it would cause a big problem for the government. People would start pointing fingers and asking why it wasn't prevented, making accusations and starting rumours. It would put doubt in the peoples mind, which was the last thing they wanted now, after the virus episode. 

Tony gave him a second to process this information before continuing along. "The tip we received is credible. Some extremists have planted a bomb, or are going to do so, somewhere in the cathedral. It is set to go off sometime tonight. The closest we could get on a time was after 7 tonight, where the number of demonstrators will be at its highest. We can't storm the building as we have no intel on the device, and for all we know it could be set on a trigger device. We only have to raise someone's suspicions and the place could blow. We need to tread carefully here." 

Jack nodded in agreement, whilst Tony again spilled out the information. 

"We can't evacuate either. What's going on is a big deal, its been on the news for moths. People think this is going to mark the start of change, people are expecting it to make a difference. If we run in there guns blazing and find no bomb, that will backfire and hurt us bad." 

"I thought you said the source was reliable?" Jack asked, if it was so then they should be able to evacuate, as they should know there would be a device. 

"It is Jack, but you know we can never be 100." Tony snapped. 

Jack looked down at his feet. "So what you are saying is that we can not evacuate those people because Division needs to cover its ass." 

"That's right Jack. Sometimes its good to think things through - we can't all be reckless." He stopped as sharp as he had started, realising that he was being a little too hard on Jack. He watched as he started to fiddle with his fingers and Tony wondered if he had hurt his feelings. It was a rare occurrence for anything to scratch below the surface with Jack, and you never did know if you really had, he was the master of deception after all. 

"Look, I sent Chloé all of the intel Division gave us, and she's trying to peel as much off as she can, as is Adam, they are trying to get anything out of it that we can go by." 

"What are we going to do Tony? If we don't find anything, and if we can't evacuate?" He asked, sincerely concerned about these people. 

"I don't know." Tony admitted truthfully, his voice softening. "Lets just hope we find something, all right?" 

"Sure." Jack said quietly. He got up and left the office, not meeting Tony eyes. 

He crossed the floor again and immediately looked down at his shoes whilst increasing his pace after seeing Michelle out of the corner of his eye. She made no attempt to hide her glare at him and she followed him up the stairs with her ice cold stare. She watched until he was out of sight and realised she was clenching her fists. The sight of Jack often did this to her, he disgusted her. The fact that he could even work in the same place as Tony or her angered her. After all he put them through 6 months ago, and yet he had the cheek to act as though everything was okay. She didn't realise just how far from okay anything was. 


	4. Games

Jack kept his eyes ahead and walked straight through field ops and into his office. Once in their he tinted the windows with his remote control and sunk down onto the couch. Michelle's presence in C.T.U was getting to him, to say the least, as were the stares and looks she gave him whenever she could. Jack knew she had a right to be angry at him, to some extent, but he couldn't fully comprehend her anger. 

Hadn't she gone back into the hands of Saunder's willingly? She had also been dedicated enough to go into the Chandler Plaza hotel where she was almost certainly going to be infected and killed, so why was she so mad that Jack had asked her to do the same again, when her chances of death were considerably lower? What confused and frustrated Jack most of all was the fact that she had come out of the entire ordeal unharmed, so why was she treating him this way? 

He could remember the first time he met Michelle. She was eager to do the right thing and find justice when others hadn't been so keen to seek the truth. He realised that somewhere between then and now she had taken the route so many others had taken, the easy way out - hell, she even more a suit to work now, which said it all. 

He pushed himself up and walked over to the computer desk sitting down slowly. He closed his eyes and thought about the situation those protesters were in. Standing up for what they believed in, making a difference. He wondered if they were all going to die or of if he could somehow save them. If they did die, would they feel comfort knowing they took an even greater stand, knowing they died helping the minority? He didn't know what himself would think if he were in the same situation, but realised quickly that that was because he didn't believe in anything strongly enough. He tried to push the thought of these people out of his mind - he would save them. He would not sacrifice them, as Division were planning. Maybe he would make a stand today after all. 

As though on que Michelle chose that moment to push her way through Jack's door and into the room. She had seen that the windows were tinted but didn't care, he didn't have anything to hide did he? After all, everyone knew what he was doing last time he used to have his office this way. She knew he wouldn't question her barging in on him, he didn't have it in him. He looked up startled as she entered and quickly tried to look relaxed but didn't really pull it off - he looked like a child caught doing something they shouldn't be. 

"Hi Jack." She said coldly before dropping a folder on his desk. "Adam pulled some information off the link and thought you may want to take a look through it.... That is, if your not too busy." Her tone turned sarcastic at the last part and for a moment Jack wanted to wipe that clever smirk from her face. He tried to stay calm but couldn't help retaliating.  
  
"No I'm not too busy, and neither are you by the looks of it. Or you would have sent this through the server, as protocol requires - or did you just happen to forget that?" He asked harshly, he wanted her to know he knew exactly what she was up to and it wasn't going to work. No matter how long she played at being the injured party and making Jack's life less and less tolerable he wasn't going to leave C.T.U. Especially not because of her. He wouldn't give her the satisfaction. 

Michelle looked at him trying to think of something to come back to him with but got nothing, he had caught her out here. 

"I thought so. Now why don't you run along to your little office and do something that might help make a difference today Michelle. This is not the time to play childish games." 

"So this is all a game to you?" She asked, trying hard to get at him now. She knew she wasn't showing her superior respect and she couldn't care less. She knew Jack wouldn't have the balls to report her. 

"No Michelle, this is no a game. Its a joke. Your a joke. Walking around here like you own the place, like butter wouldn't melt in your mouth. While their are people who are at risk, who need our help, going unnoticed! That is what I believe is a joke Michelle, your attitude!" He yelled, his voice having risen remarkably since she first entered the office. 

Michelle stared at him for a moment with hard eyes before turning and running out of the room. She fled down the stairs and didn't give Tony a second glance as she passed him and rushed ahead to the women's toilets. Once locked inside a cubicle she allowed herself to cry. She was so upset and frustrated now that Jack was around again. It was like his presence messed with her head. 

She was angry at him for what he put her and Tony through, but at the same time she was angry at herself for treating him as she was. She was sure that her constantly being on his case was the lest thing he needed, yet she couldn't stop herself from trying to get at him. She sat down on the closed toilet and squeezed her eyes shut, willing herself to get everything under order - the last thing she needed was him realising he had got to her. 

Tony made his way into Jacks office to see Jack stood their looking angry and frustrated, his fists clenched in his hands as he paced around the office. 

"What the hell was that about?" Tony demanded. 

"Nothing." Jack muttered. 

"It sure as hell didn't look like nothing Jack!" He yelled, before realising that people on the floor could probably hear them. At least they weren't getting to view the show too. 

"Look, Hammond's left a message for you over at comms." He said, his voice slightly lower. "Get yourself under control Jack." He spat whilst shaking his head, before turning and leaving, closing the door behind himself. 


	5. Different Trains of Thought

Jack took deep breaths to calm himself as he watched Tony descend down the stairs and onto the main floor. He couldn't stifle his laugh as he watched Tony look around desperately, presumably for Michelle. He shook his head in disbelief as he muttered under his breath, '_No sir, our relationship will not get in the way of our work_.' He moved over to his desk and leafed through the documents Michelle had dropped off for him trying hard to focus. He wouldn't let thousands of people die fighting for a cause because the rest of the office were too wrapped up in their own personal life's to care. We he wouldn't, couldn't, ignore it. He was here to work and make a difference. 

They were all trained to prevent attacks like this from happening, even the LAPD could deal with this, C.T.U personnel were over trained for this. But the operation had still been handed to them, and Jack knew perfectly why it had been handed to them. For blow back purposes. If this did go wrong that was... and by the way the so called leader of this office was behaving, he feared it would. Tony didn't really care about this, he thought. If he did he would have every available agent working their as off now, because of the deadline they had been given. But instead he was running around after his wife... He knew why Tony was acting that way thought, he thought bitterly. It was simple once you really thought about it, he had turned into a suit, just like the rest of them. It didn't matter how or when it happened, but Jack was certain that Tony was no longer on the same side, he was an enemy like the rest of the people he worked for. 

He threw the documents back onto the desk, frustrated with the way his thoughts seemed to be intent on going. Those people were counting on him, he was their only chance. Yet here he was, sat doing the same thing he was angry at Tony for. He picked the documents up one more time and glanced through it. It contained basic information on the situation: dates, times, targets and the predicted number of civilians in the area. Contact numbers littered the page too, with different liaisons other than Division which wanted to be kept in the loop for one reason or the other. He read through it twice to make sure he had absorbed all of the details before leaning to his side and dropping it in his trash can. 

He signed onto his computer and checked his mail, opening up one from Hammond containing more information on possible groups involved. Their were a few extremist groups listed in the file along with one or two small terrorist groups and a few gangs. It was the mention of the KKK which immediately caught Jack's attention. He hadn't herd anything suggestion they were active in years. Even if there were some small groups of followers still in practice, the thought of them in LA took his breath away. Surely this was a mistake? 

_If_ there were any people active then surely they would be confined to the South? The only hypothesis he could conjure up was that the event would serve as some kind of message, maybe to encourage their followers or warn some other rival group. It was still a long shot, and he couldn't fathom them being behind the strike. It wasn't their style, they were into local one to one confrontations. Beatings and threats, arson at the most, but a bomb? That didn't fit with their history at all. And in a cathedral too... wouldn't that contradict their meaning, religion had some relevance to their purpose, Jack was sure. 

He took out a notepad from his desk drawer and scribbled his entire train of thought on the matter into it, and then began to do the same for the other highlighted possibles. Half way through that he rang Chloé and politely asked her to check each of the mentioned groups against and data they have in their systems. He also asked for any addresses for any of the groups connections in LA. Friends, old business men, hang out spots - whatever they had. He also asked to check that every group mentioned in the file was still active too, or all this would be irrelevant, and they didn't have the time or resources it waste. Still despite all of this, something in his gut told him that the attack wasn't going to belong to any of these organisations. 

Before hanging up the phone Chloé informed him that she would be right on it, and said thanks to him before hanging up the phone, which he assumed was for his kind temperament with her. Jack smiled to himself, things were much better between the two of them since he had started using his manners around her. She was all right once you learned how to act around her, and got used to her quirky ways. He placed the pad back into his drawer and locked it, then thought about who else could be responsible that hadn't been implicated in the data sent from Division. 

It was the phone in his office ringing which dragged him from his thoughts, and it was Mike from the lab, who told Jack that he was ready for him. Jack informed that he would be down soon before ending the call and slumping down further down in the chair letting out a sigh as he did so. At least once a week he had to go to the lab in the clinic and let Mike or John, whoever was in, take a blood sample from him to check for any irregular substances in his system, also known as heroin. 

He knew it was protocol and would be required but it still embarrassed him. Yes, a blood test was not as humiliating as giving urine samples would be, but it still didn't do his morale any good. It was a reminder of what he once was, and he didn't like it. But despite that he still went down once a week without fail, it could be any day of the week though. They had to make sure that it didn't become a routine or a pattern as he could made sure the substances were out of his system before going in. They knew that they had to take all of the precautions they could with Jack, he was the master of deception after all. So far nothing incriminating had come from them, which is the way Jack intended it to stay. Rubbing a hand across his hair ruffling it up he headed out of his office towards the centre of C.T.U. 


	6. Old and New Faces

Jack crossed over the main floor and turned left into the intelligence department. He scanned the room as he always did, noticing just how many nameless faces their were to him, more new than old. A pang of guilt hit him as he thought back to the C.T.U bombing which had wiped a large amount of the old faces out. He realised that he now rarely spoke to anyone he didn't have to, either his supervisors department heads. He avoided everyone when he could. 

He could still remember the time when he once knew all of their names, everyone under his command, he had seen it as a sign of respect and mutual understanding. But after a while it got too hard, the names kept changing as more people died. They were replaced too fast, he thought, and so after a while could no longer see the point of such a stupid task, nor keep up with the new faces on the scene. 

He didn't realise that he had stopped walking and was staring absently into the air. It was Michelle who saw him like that and so strode over to see what his problem was this time. 

"Jack?" She called, her tone a mix of annoyance and confusion. 

"Yeah." He said snapping out of it and trying to act normal. 

"Where you going?" She asked, she didn't see him in this area of the building unless he was passing through or looking for somebody. 

"Erm, to the clinic." He said before looking around as though in a rush to leave. He didn't miss the small smirk as it formed on Michelle's curved lips. 

"Why?" She tried to sound genuine but even she could hear the humour in her voice. Jack stared at her coldly, no emotion in his face. 

"You know damn well why." He snapped before walking away, already taking deep breaths to control himself. She angered him so much, just what was her problem? At the end of the day her husband didn't go to jail because of his report, that was what it had came down to. He had took full responsibility for Tony's actions, and the higher ups had been only too happy with that. They hadn't expected Palmer to step in when he had. But she conveniently forgot about that when it suited her. At least Tony was fee once he was cleared, not like Jack, whom would forever be a recovering drug addict. He would always be labelled as a junkie, a has been. He was the only person suffering here, other than Gael who had paid the ultimate price. _Selfish b!tch_, he muttered under his breath angrily to comfort himself, before heading towards the clinic. 

He made his way through the hallways until reaching the lab. Mike was waiting for him and they shook hands as they greeted each other. Jack took a seat in the leather chair and began rolling his white shirt sleeve up revealing his tattoo from Mexico, the usual procedure. He looked away as Mike extracted his blood. He hated this, it was a reminder of what he once was, of what he had given up for his country, what he had wasted. He was mad at Division for making him do it, although it was protocol. But normal circumstances stated that after three months of recurring blood tests and completing rehab it would stop. 

But after those three months Jack had been kindly informed that he was a _special_ case, because of the fact that he had been a drug addict in C.T.U for over a month and nobody noticed. They feared that he would start up again right under their noses. 

Didn't the fact that he had been clean for over five months mean anything? Did they even know how hard he had worked to do so, to get his life back on track? He guessed not. If they knew just how hard it had been to get the drug out of his head then maybe they wouldn't have changed the rules for him. 12 months, he thought, what a joke. 

Mike finished and gave Jack a cotton bud to hold onto the spot where the needle had entered his skin while he ran to check it through. He left him alone to take the sample to the lab, he and Jack had created some sort of routine. He knew that when he returned Jack would have already left. He never stayed to wait for the results, he knew they would be clear. Mike smiled as he returned to the room, Jack gone as he had assumed. He picked up the phone to call Hammond with the news of another clear result. No drugs. 

Jack was already back in his office unrolling his shirt sleeve back down. He looked at his arm and noticed the bruise from the injection coming through. He buttoned his cuff to make sure it would stay unnoticed, he didn't want people getting the wrong idea about the mark on his arm... as Kate had. 

He could remember the day Kate showed up unexpected at his door. She had herd his name mentioned on the news with information about some deadly virus some weeks ago. She had put off the visit to him for as long as she could before giving in to her conscience, and going to see if he was all right. She had also herd about his addiction and how he had completed rehab in record time, through her fathers connections in the government. She didn't know what to make of it, but decided that if he was no longer an addict it didn't matter. 

So when she saw the bruise and mark on his upper arm that day he led her into the house she had locked eyes with it for a second too long, before slowly backing away out of the door before and turning to run away. She was shocked. He had already cracked and given back into it. Jack had called after her, asking her to let him explain. But she didn't want to hear it. 

He was angry at her for that, he shouldn't have to explain anything to anyone. He was clean, if people didn't trust him then fine, but that was their problem, not his. Although he told himself what she thought she knew didn't matter, her reaction still hurt. She no longer had any faith or trust in him, just like everybody else it seemed. 

The phone rang and Jack wanted to pull the line out, but instead answered it calmly. It was Chloé, she had just ran one of the groups through the database. _The Cords_, a small time gang here in LA. The last known doss house of theirs was only a few miles away. Jack thanked her and hung up the phone, not before telling her to post him out, he was going to go give them a visit. He opened his locker and pulled out his holster, attaching it to his waistband before grabbing his gun - his one true friend - all he had left. 


	7. The Cords

Jack pulled the plain black sweater over his shirt as he headed down the stairs. Once on he shifted it about over his holster until he was satisfied it wouldn't be a problem if he needed to draw his weapon fast. He passed through the main floor and was thankful for not seeing Michelle nor Tony. He signed out at the main desk and left the building, letting a sigh of relief out as he made it to his car. He mentally cursed himself for doing so, they should be avoiding him, not vice versa. 

He climbed into his car, instantly pushing the key into the engine and giving it a quick turn. Once that was done he clicked on the guidance system which was automatically placed in the car, and punched in the co-ordinates to the location of this doss house. He waited a second as its searcher found the address before taking note of which roads he needed to take to get there. That done, he shut it off and began to drive. 

The roads were busy as it was lunch time, the traffic distracting enough for him to take his mind from the problems Michelle was causing in the office and the threat, with its deadline looming only hours away. As he pulled to a stop at the next red light he was immediately reminded of the night he had driven straight through this very light. He was in a hurry to get back to C.T.U after discovering Nina's true identity. He couldn't remember if he was in a rush to get her before she evaded them. Or to make sure his family were safe, seen as a compromised agent working for people with a vendetta against him was looking after them. 

He guessed it was a mixture of both, he knew he had to get Nina, and doing so would also protect his family. He wondered which of the two were the most important to him at the time, probably capturing Nina. He needed to have someone responsible for the torment he had gone through that day, he needed to be able to arrest Nina, then it would be over with. The threat would be gone. After that, his family would be a good comfort. Then things would be perfect. But only if he could get Nina. 

He felt a wave of guilt pass over him as he relived his revelation. His family had been secondary to him that day, and had paid the consequences because of that. Terri had died because he had prioritised his work over his life, and Kim had suffered immeasurable amounts because of that. It was that simple. He knew if he had the chance to relive the day again, he would be running a red light to find his wife. But life didn't give you second chances. 

But what he would give for one. The light turned amber in colour and Jack sped down the road, following the directions memorised in his head. Pretty soon he realised he was entering a broken down community. It looked like the 'ghetto land' often portrayed in movies, and after a few minutes in the area he was sure the entire occupants of it were going to be of a black ethnicity. He slowed the car to a stop between two alleys near a boarded up shop as he pulled out his phone and dialled up the number of Chloés terminal. He asked he of the ethnic background of this group, he was right, they were black. Instead of snapping at her he hung the phone up and transferred this information through his mind. 

It was unlikely that a black group were behind an attack on people protesting against racism. The only plausible thing his mind could concoct was that they would not be suspected and may get away with it - but it was a long shot. Why would they want to kill the people who were fighting for them? And judging from the infrastructure of the area alone, it seemed that no gang from this area would be able to fund something as big as this. Still, he couldn't make himself drive away, he would exhaust every lead until he figured out, and prevented this attack. 

As he tried to figure out if it was even slightly possible that anyone from here could be behind the attack he noticed a group of young men walking down the road. Dressed in big baggy clothes with baseball caps pulled down over their heads he was certain they belonged to the area, possibly the gang. He got out of the car and approached the group, noticing the smirks on their face as they eyed him. One of the older looking men from the group, probably in his early twenties stepped forward, asking Jack what he was doing in his neighbourhood. He was clearly the leader of this little assembly. Jack decided to do this the forward way, it would either work or he would have a little trouble on his hands, but he wasn't concerned, he knew they could clearly see the holstered gun at his side. 

Jack beckoned the young man over, shoulders rocking from side to side as he did so. Jack flashed his badge and gave them his name, telling them he was from the Counter Terrorist Unit. That got rid of the boys smirk, Jack noticed, before he asked if there was somewhere private they could talk. Now looking much more nervous the leader directed them towards an alley on the other side of the road, before telling the rest of his click, "Everything's cool, leave it." 

Quickly and briefly Jack told the boy, Jay, that he was not interested in anything they had been involved in, but he needed to know about The Cords. The kid nodded an told him that was them, and that they didn't do it, whatever the problem was. Jack calmly told Jay he was investigating a terrorist attack against protesters fighting for equal rights against racism, mainly coloured people. The colour instantly drained from Jays face as he misread the implications of Jack statement. His hands were out before him in a defensive gesture as he told Jack, "We aint doing no shit to our own man." Jack nodded, he had expected this, before telling him he wanted to know who might be involved, any ideas at all. 

After a few minutes thinking hard and muttering, "Oh sh!t," under his breath, Jay told Jack he didn't know, but he could ask around, see what the word on the street was. Jack nodded, and gave him a card with his number on it. He asked him to ring him if he found out anything at all, no matter how small or insignificant it seemed. As he made to leave Jay called after him, looking unsettled and nervous. He fiddled with the brim of his red cap as he spoke. 

"This thing, that your figuring out. It happened yet?" He asked shyly as though afraid of the answer. 

"No. We have reason to believe the attack will take place tonight." Jack wasn't sure why he was telling the kid this information. It was unlikely he was going to be able to help him, but at least they had one gang they could cross off from the list of possible culprits. 

"You got any ideas on who doing it?" 

"No that's why I came here. Were checking all of the local groups out." Jack stated, impatiently, he clearly wanted to get on his way, time was an issue here. 

"Well let me come with, I can help you man." 

Jack smiled, if he hadn't been having such a bad morning, or bad life maybe, he would have been touched by the kids innocence. "Sorry, this is a government matter." 

"Come on man! I aint wanna see my own get ragged." He whined, making Jack feel incredibly guilty. He had no idea what it would take to stop this from happening. 

Jack stared at him long and hard, trying to decided whether the kid could be an asset to his investigation, probably not. 

"Listen, you have my cell. Look into it, like you said earlier. You find as much as you can, ask around, call me. That's enough, okay?" 

"Sh!t man you know that aint gonna make no difference." He said, calling to Jack who was now walking over to the car, whilst Jays group of friends, The Cords, stood on the curb watching curiously. 

"Ask around. That's more than enough." His voice indicated that the conversation was over. 

"Aight man. But don't you be surprised when that cell of yours keeps ringing." 

Jack nodded, before starting up the car. As he drove back to C.T.U he tried to think of what he should do now, but Jays pleading kept nagging at him. Something had struck him about the kid, he seemed so innocent, lost even. He was certain the gang was not responsible the second he had spoken with him. He decided that he would wipe all information of The Cords from C.T.U's database. They were harmless young adults who never got that chance to grow up. Not malicious enough to be there. 

Eventually pulling up in the C.T.U lot his feelings were replaced with the usual dread that settled at the bottom of his stomach while he was here. Making his thoughts spiral in yet another direction was his ringing cell. 

Jay was on the line, with information. Information that, according to Jay, "was going to stop this sh!t before it can even start." 


	8. Phone Call

Jack smirked into the phone as he noticed Jays unmistakable enthusiasm. If only it could be that easy he mused, as he herd Jay tell him that his information would prevent tonight from happening. 

"So what have you got?" He asked, trying not to sound condescending as he got out of his car, the phone still pressed against his ear. 

"Well, I rang a few of my brothers, and one of them knew some heavy, heavy stuff." 

"Which was?" 

"He says that he and his boys went round to jump some white boys click just last night, when they herd 'em talking. They was saying how big it was going to be, how it was going to knock us niggas back down where we belong. He said they was talking about a big blast too, like a bomb or something. My brother says it sounded like some serious sh!t, so they laid off and left instead of going in for them. Yep, I wouldn't be surprised if those ba-"

"Jay." Jack interrupted, wanting to find out if this was credible in the slightest. "What's your brothers name?" 

"We call him Beanie. Don't know about no real name." 

Jack struggled not to laugh at his own stupidity, he had thought by use of the term brother that they were family. Obviously this was instead a case of street jargon which he had misunderstood. 

"Okay, this friend of yours, has he got a number?" 

"Sure man I can fix you with that."

Jack repeated the number after him as he memorised it, before asking more questions. He wanted to be positive the information was real. No doubt the people in C.T.U wouldn't act upon it due to its subjective nature. 

"Jay, are you sure, are you absolutely positive that your friend isn't making this up, to try pull one over on those boys?" 

"No man, he aint down with that. Even if they is white boys he aint gonna get a cop on them, he only even told me this because I was insistent men, he was going keep his lips sealed. Man, you lucky I managed to get that for you."

Jack laughed down the phone, this kid was some character. "I assure you I appreciate it. I have to go." 

Before the kids protests made it down the phone he hung up, no doubt Jay would ring if he did indeed gather anything else that might be useful to him. 

Jack pocketed his phone as he entered C.T.U, almost instantly met by Tony who looked furious. He indicated for Jack to follow him, which he did, into his office. Once the door was closed he started shouting. 

"Where the hell have you been Jack?" 

"I followed a lead. I posted out, what's the problem?" He spoke calmly, ignoring the sensation in his fist telling him to chin Tony there and then. Why the hell was he acting like this, he had followed protocol, so what was wrong? 

"The problem, Jack, is you. I can't have my staff running around coming and going as they please. I can't run C.T.U while sorting out your department for you too!" 

"What are you talking about?" Jack asked confused, his anger still rising. 

"We got a lead. And seen as you were unavailable I had to send a team in, and bend over backwards to correct the authorisation!" 

"What lead?" 

"We got a tip off, unconfirmed. A warehouse down town. We sent a team in, they arrested 5 people there, and also found a sufficient amount of explosives there to take care of the cathedral." 

Jack stood there taking it all in, did this mean the threat was gone? What about the information Jay had given him? A though struck him, which made him feel sick to his stomach. Was this a set up, or was its the governments way of saying, 'sorry we did all we could,' when the bomb does go off? What bothered him most of all was Tony. Why in the hell was he talking to him like this, having a go at him when the damn thing was successful? 

"Well, congratulations," Jack stated, before turning to leave the office. Hearing Tony call his name, he stopped angrily and slowly turned to face him. 

"The men are bringing the people in for interrogation. You will co-ordinate with them on this and make yourself useful. You got it?" He snapped, making his authority known to Jack, who watched him with a slight smirk forming on his face. 

"Sure." 

"Good. They should touch down in under fifteen minutes." 

This time Jack made to leave, and wasn't interrupted as he left his old office and headed across the building to his own, his head lowered as he tried to figure out what was going on. 


	9. Mischievous Jack

Jack crossed the floor quickly and made his way up the stairs to his office, a thin smile playing across his lips. For a brief moment he had been unsure of which action to take, but he had followed his gut instinct over orders before, and like hell he was going to give up on it now. Instinct was all he had left. 

He sat down in his office chair and began tapping into his system at a rapid pace, knowing he didn't have much time before Tony expected him to interrogate whoever it was they had picked up. If he wanted to leave with a bang he would have to be fast, he figured he had just over fifteen minutes before the team made there way through the building, and he had to be out by then. 

He entered the database they had formed on The Cords and began searching for the alias Beanie. The server came up empty, causing Jack to frown. He had been certain that Jay's information was valid, but what if he was wrong? He wouldn't allow himself to believe this, Jay had struck him as someone who wanted to help, so he would treat him that way. 

He backed out of the primary database and re-entered the name Beanie, under the tab for associates this time. He grinned from ear to ear as he saw the information they had stored on this person appear on the screen, happy with the fact that his judgement of Jay had been right. 

Jack realised he wouldn't have the time to read through the everything on his screen so he hit the print button. Whilst his computer whirled as it started complete the task he grabbed two spare clips and a set of handcuffs from his locker and stowed them away in his pocket. A quick glance in the square mirror on this inside of this locker door told him that he didn't need to bother changing his black sweater, the C.T.U logo was small and only appeared on the left breast, it would go unnoticed and wouldn't draw any attention to him. Most people wouldn't even know what C.T.U was, they would think it was a sports team or something. 

He saw that the documents had printed and were waiting patiently in his out tray. He scooped them up and tucked them away in a folder that read CLASSIFIED over the cover. The documents didn't exactly classified information but it was all he had lying around, and he was running out of time. His watch told him he had taken seven minutes so far, and he wasn't finished yet. 

Smiling to himself he grabbed the intercom on his desk and turned it upside down, it time go get down to business. After pulling the back off the machine he fiddled with the two grey wires until he had them in the positing he needed them to be. After that first task was complete he slid the cover back on the phone and flipped it back to its upright position. He pressed the hash key twice before entering his cell number cautiously, making sure he didn't enter a digit wrongly. Satisfied he had done that correctly he pressed the transmit and hands-free button at the same time. He waited ten seconds for the dial tone and quickly pressed the hash button once more, before taking the phone off the receiver and slamming it back down quickly. 

He put the phone back in its place and smirked as he realised how Tony was going to react when he realised what he had done. Another quick glance at his watch told him he had now taken eleven minutes. He patted his right trouser pocket checking that he had his cell and keys, grabbed the folder from his desk and closed the computer down. Satisfied that nobody would know what he had been looking at he left. 

Hurrying down the steps to the main floor he glanced up at his office, grinning as he realised he had left the light on. When Tony realised he hadn't gone down to the holding sector he would ring his office. Eventually he would realised that something was wrong, and would storm in. expecting to find him there. He would be furious when he realised what Jack had done to the phone, and what he would give to see the look on Tony's face when he realised that he wasn't even in the building! As he hadn't posted himself out they would have to do a formal search before they could put out an APB on him. 

Jack let out a slight chuckle as he pushed his way through the back exit and made his way towards his car. Pulling himself in he herd his phone ring, and he knew this would be Tony. He glanced at the screen of his phone to determine if the person had called his cell or the extension number to his office. It was the latter. 

"Bauer." He answered, after snapping the phone open, trying to remain serious despite his urge to laugh. 

"Jack what are you doing? Greyson has been waiting for you almost twenty minutes, I told you to be down in fifteen. I don't need to remind you about the time issue here do I?" 

Jack noticed the irritation in his voice and it took every ounce of self control to stop himself from letting out a slight giggle at the thought of how annoyed he would be when he realised he wasn't talking to Jack in his office. 

"Sorry I lost track of time. I'll go straight down." 

"You do that," he snapped, before hanging up. 

Jack closed the phone and dropped it onto the empty passenger seat, before starting the car up. He drove out of the parking lot and onto the main road that would take him away from C.T.U. He wondered how many times he would speak to Tony before he realised that Jack wasn't even using his office phone. 


	10. Chill Jack!

Jack continued to drive, his head running circles as he tried to take order of what he was going to do now he was no longer involved with C.T.U's activities. His phone rang once more and Jack was pleased to see that it wasn't Tony, he hadn't figured his trick out yet. Instead it was Jay. He wanted to know what Jack was up to and Jack was as surprised as Jay when he herd himself tell him what he was going to do. He figured it would be easier than keeping yet another person in the dark about his activities, which were getting even more complicated as he tried to keep track of everything in his head. 

As he told Jay he was going to go and pay Beanie a visit, Jack noticed a change in Jay's voice, he could detect anxiousness. Jay advised Jack that he should take him with him, that Beanie wouldn't want to deal with a cop and that he would have a lot of people with him in his hang out. After a few minutes Jack finally gave in and agreed to pick Jay up from where they met before, deciding that their was no reason to make today any harder than it had to be. 

As soon as the S.U.V rolled to a stop Jay climbed in, anticipation and enthusiasm dripping from him. Jack silently hoped he hadn't made a mistake by bringing an eager kid along, but he knew that Jay would be the easiest way to communicate with this lead. By bringing Jay along things would go easier, the gang may actually consider co-operating with him because he had one of their own with him. It would place them in a more considering frame of mind in the very least, he hoped. 

Jay bombarded him with questions before the car was even moving again, much to Jack's displeasure. 

"What are we gonna to say to them? Do you think they are really gonna to try blow the cathedral up? Are you gonna arrest them?" 

"Jay!" Jack snapped, before taking a moment to calm himself. "I don't know what we are going to do. We need to look around, for evidence that they are even planning on doing what we think they are..." 

His voice trailed of as his mind beg to form a new plan. He didn't know if he would even be able to pull it off, with Jay tagging along. He doubted it. He could leave Jay on watch somewhere while he covertly swept the area, but then he had no idea of the schematics. Unwontedly, Jay continued to interrupt Jacks thoughts with ridiculous questions, causing Jack to lose his temper as he lost his train of thought on how to proceed with this man Beanie. 

"Jay can you just shut up, please. Just stop talking. I'm trying to think damn it." 

"Aight man you only had to ask me." 

Jack bit his tongue to stop himself from responding. He knew he was being rude, but he didn't have the time to waste on manners. The sudden sound of loud static interrupted the silence and Jack quickly stopped the car and pulled his radio out, checking it for a signal. It wasn't on. He looked at the black object for a second confused, before turning to face Jay who's face had that, 'rabbit caught in the headlights' expression plastered all over it. His hand was still lingering over what looked like a radio dial. 

"Sorry man. It was too quiet. I was gonna look for a tune, but your radio doesn't work." 

"That's because its not a radio Jay," He said dryly, before tossing his own radio into the back seat and starting up the car once more, clenching his jaw to calm himself. 

"Then what is it?" He asked, giving the dial another turn, still getting static." 

"Its a scanner. If something important comes up and they can't contact me, they can try through this. Or if I need to find where someone is, say the L.A.P.D., I can do so through this." 

"Cool." 

"Yeah," Jack muttered, happy to end the conversation so he could concentrate on the task at hand. 

"What's this then," Jay asked, his hands now wandering over to the screen in his car. 

"Don't touch that!" Jack snapped, swiping his hand away. "Don't touch nothing, just... can't you just sit?" 

"Sure man, I can give it a go." 

"Thank you."

Jacks heart was pounding now, Jay had almost activated the satellite map, which would have allowed Tony to know where he was. Although he would be able to get a better knowledge of the area Beanie would be stationed in, it wasn't worth the risk of Tony finding their signal. Even if he started looking an hour from now, they could still be found. 

Jack thought about Beanie once more, and came to the decision that he would go in through the front and confront the kid with the information he had on him. That would make the kid listen, as he would be interested in how Jack knew so much about him. And if it didn't... well he still had his gun. 

"We almost here man why don't you park or they'll se us coming a mile off." 

Jack's lips curled into a smile as he kept on driving on. He slowed down as they passed the slip road which led to the three story derelict looking house. He glanced around before driving on. He finally stopped the car out of view, after turning down another street so people wouldn't be curious. 

"You just gave us away man!" Jay shouted, thinking that Jack didn't know what he was doing. 

"Jay were fine, and now we don't need to sweep the area, there's no bad vantage points or blind spots for us. I know what I'm doing." 

Before Jay could retort with a comment expressing his opinion about what Jack knew his cell rang, which made him hold his comment for later. 

It was Tony's extension once more, ringing his own. 

"Bauer." 

"Jack where the hell are you?" His voice made it clear that he knew Jack was no longer in his office. 

"I'm following a lead Tony." 

"I told you we have the people responsible!" Tony yelled. 

"And I told you I had another lead to follow! If we want to stop this thing you have got to keep the door open for other possibilities," he snapped, equally as angry as Tony. 

"Whoa Jack chill it man," Jay laughed as he watched Jack get worked up. 

"Who the hell was that?" 

"Nobody Tony," he hissed before turning to face Jay angrily. "Shut up Jay." 

"There's an APB out on you Jack. If you don't come back now... I wont be able to clear your mess up for you." 

"Fine." 

"Jack don't do this." Jack thought he could detect some of the old Tony in his voice, but it wasn't enough. 

"It's too late," he replied, before hanging up. 

"Lets go." He said to Jay, his voice cold and distant as he got out of the car. 


	11. Just a short update sorry

Jack opened up the boot of his car and Jays eyes widened in appreciation at the sight of the arson he had stored there. He grabbed a new gun and attached it to his holster, before placing clips in his pockets, and another gun in his ankle holster. After moving his jumper around the holster once more he stole and glance at Jay and sighed, before taking another gun out of the supply and handing it him with the instructions, 'Do not fire unless absolutely necessary." Jay nodded, he wasn't going to protest, he was surprised Jack gave him the gun at all. The smile on his face spread into a grin as he handled the shiny new weapon in awe. Jack then closed the boot and locked the car up, before walking down the road in the direction that would lead them to the old house. 

"Listen, I'm going to go in the house, straight through the front door. All official, scare them into talking. What I need you to do is go round the back, outside, and wait-" 

"Aw man you trying to sideline me!" Jay wined, as he interrupted. 

"No Jay I'm not, its important you do this. If they try to run, the only way they can get away is through the back. Which is where you will be. You apprehend them, bring them back inside to me. Then we will deal with them together." 

"All right man, I think I can handle that." 

Jack noticed his eyes flash down to the gun now sticking down the waistband of his long bright red basketball shorts as he spoke. Jack had to stifle a laugh at the kids cloths, it was a good job he would be waiting out back or they would be spotted before they got even half way there. 

They rounded the corner and Jack instructed Jay on how to get into position, giving him clear directions to make sure he would be in a good view point. Before he left heading for the front of the house he reminded Jay he was only to use the weapon is absolutely necessary. 

Jay tuned and grinned, "What's you definition of necessary?" 

"If someone is shooting at you, then shoot back. That's it, no hero playing." 

He stopped moving to watch as Jay trotted through the dirt path which would lead him to the house. Jay stopped to pull his shorts back up as they were falling down, and then again to rearrange the gun in his waist band. Jack couldn't help but laugh, but felt guilty afterwards, he was in no situation to be joking around. He had to get the information on the bomb out of these people to end the threat, and soon. 

Seeing that Jay had made his way he turned and headed down the bumpy road towards the house, casually glancing around the area looking for anything suspicious and out of the ordinary. Everything seemed normal so he allowed himself to relax as he walked up to the chipped read door. Not knowing what to expect on the other side he took a deep breath, then without haste he slammed it open and charged inside gun first. 


	12. aannndddddd ACTION!

Jack stormed into the building fast with his gun and flashlight held steady in his hands, shocking the three men sat in a circle on the floor, playing some card game using an upturned crate as a table. 

"Federal agent. Put your hands on your heads, now!" 

He glanced around the dim room quickly and saw that it was being lit by a single lamp in the far corner, resting on the floor. There was no furniture in the room, and the old clumps of plaster and other rubbish scattered over the floor told him the house was a hang out nothing more.

He looked at the three scared men, none older than 25 with their hands now on top of their heads. None of them was 'Beanie,' he had seen a picture of him on file at C.T.U. Although all three were white, none of them looked even remotely like him. He saw the smallest of the three look towards a hallway leading into another room and instantly took off in that direction, knowing he had been looking at something or someone. 

He ran through the dark hallway into another room and saw a much bigger man than himself jump out from the darkness in an attempt to attack him. He caught him off guard and slammed Jack into a wall where he dropped his gun and flashlight. The man treated Jack to a blow to the stomach, which he was too slow to block, and then another to the side of the face. Jack almost went down but managed to stay on his feet, realising that he had to do something fast or the three boys would get suspicious and come take a look at the fight. Once they realised who was on who they would probably join in, which wouldn't help matters right now. 

The third punch was finally blocked and followed up with a left jab straight to the mans chin sending him backwards. Jack wasted no time and jumped on him, the force throwing them both to the floor as he landed another punch on the mans nose before they began rolling in a scuffle, the man regaining his strength despite the punches he took. 

Jack felt another blow land on his face before the mans hands were round his neck choking him. Jacks hands went up to the mans and he tried to squeeze his pressure point to make him let go, but he missed it, the lack of air going into his lungs causing his vision to fog. He changed tactics knowing the man would expect it and began clawing at his arms to pull him off. He herd the man laugh at his efforts as he did this, but while doing that he tried to knee the man in his groin. His aim missed and caught the guys thigh instead. He lost his pace for a second, which Jack took as an opportunity to send his fist into the mans open stomach three times, finally winding him. 

The hands came from his neck and then attempted to swing again. He did, but Jack rolled out form under him, the mans knuckles connecting with the bare concrete floor with a sickening crack, followed by a sharp cry of pain. Jack didn't care, he jumped up and saw the man was now on his knees, trying to get up but the pain slowing him down. Jack swung his leg out and his boot connected with the mans nose, dropping him to the floor, out cold. 

Jack backed away and leant against the wall while he caught his breath, but knew he couldn't waste too long. Beanie wasn't here. Either he got out while he was fighting, or he was still in the house. He thought about searching it but decided to question the three men first. He looked over himself, his clothes now matted with dust and plaster amongst other things, from his scrap on the floor. He didn't have a mirror so he couldn't assess his face, but he could feel blood coming from the side of his head, running by his ear and down his neck. He wiped a it with the sleeve of his jumper, hoping to get it off. He didn't want to appear weak or vulnerable, or the three men may try something, if they were still there, and he may not be as lucky with three of them against him. 

He picked up his gun and flashlight from the floor before walking back through the hallway. He smirked when he saw the three men still sat on the floor with their hands on their heads, eyes wide with fear and confusion. Jack pulled one pair of cuffs from his pocket, glad he had taken that spare set, and signalled for the biggest to come forward. He obeyed Jack's requests and was soon sat facing the wall with his hands behind his back. The second soon ended up in the same position, while the third, the youngest looking of the three wondered what the man was going to do with him. 

Jack signalled for him to come with him, and the kid did, walking back to the room with the unconscious man laid in it, blood dripping down his face. Jack closed the door to the room so the other two wouldn't be able to hear, if this person didn't talk he would try the same technique with the other two later. 

"Where is Beanie?" He asked sternly. He wasn't going to waste time here, he couldn't afford to. 

"Who?" 

"You know who. So tell me. Or end up like your friend here on the floor." 

The guy swallowed, nervous as he glanced at his beaten friend. Jack could see he was about to speak, but the sound of approaching footsteps stopped him. Jack could tell they were coming towards them, from the back entrance of the house. 

"Get against the wall, hands on your head, interlock your fingers. Now!" Jack ordered as he aimed his gun at the door, adrenaline now pouring through his veins. He was ready to take on whoever was coming for him this time. 


	13. The Interrogation

Jack stood still with the gun firmly planted in his hands, his finger gently resting on the trigger. He herd the footsteps get louder as he held his breath and waited for whoever it was to show themselves. He squinted through the darkness as the room was only lit by a single square window on the far end of the room. He herd laughter as the door opened slowly. He could see two shadows approaching. 

"Federal agent get against the wall now!" 

"Woa man chill, what you shoutin for?!" Came Jay's voice, making Jack frown, but he still held his gun out, aimed at them. 

The two men stepped into the light and Jack saw that the man with him had blood coming from his nose and lip. It was Beanie. He looked angrily at Jay. They were , after all, and maybe he could use Jays presence to his advantage. They entered the room fully and Jack ordered the man against the wall, while sending Jay off to find something to tie him and the younger man up with. He would keep watch. Jack watched as the young man and Beanie both faced the wall at other sides of the room, unable to communicate to one another. 

He considered which way to interrogate Beanie. He had been planning to use threats, but now that Jay had roughed him up he would have to continue that way. If the pain suddenly stopped he would feel in control, and would begin to doubt that they had the authority to hurt him. But Jack didn't need authority for anything, and he wasn't going to stop until he knew what they were planning, and where. If Beanie didn't co-operate, he would hurt him. 

Jay sauntered back into the room, a bundle of grey wire in both hands as he tried not to drop it. He set it down on the floor and Jack got to work right away, cutting pieces off with his knife. He tied the man on the floor up while he was still out cold, before moving on to the kid and Beanie. He made sure there hands were tightly secured behind there backs before taking them back into the room where the other two guys were still handcuffed. He decided that the pressure of being before his peers would probably be enough to make him talk. Either that or it would go the other way and make him close up. 

Jay watched Jack impressed, following him into the room like a lost sheep. The wide grin was still spread over his face as he saw the four men now sat on the floor facing them, after following Jacks instructions. Beanie was sat against a different wall which was supposed to make him feel uncomfortable, a simple interrogation tactic but it was surprising how well it worked. The three guys from before still looked scared, and he had no doubts that they weren't even involved in this. They were probably in the wrong place at the wrong time, Jack thought. But that was tough, they were there to be used to his advantage now. 

Jack wandered around the room biding his time to sweat Beanie out, before moving over and crouching down before him, invading his personal space and looking him directly in the eye until the kid looked away. 

"So Charles, you going to tell me what's going on?" 

The information he held has its desired effect as the four men including Jay watched him with curious expressions while Beanies eyes widened, before he tried to play it off as nothing. 

"So you know my name?" 

"I know more than your name Mr. Weatherby. I know all about your past, the private school you attended before you started dealing, the houses you lived in before you ended up here in LA," Jack paused before adding a slight grin to his face as he continued, "All about your three younger sisters, and your widowed mother." 

He paused as he watched him start to shift around uncomfortably on the floor, the wire cutting into his wrists as he did so. He was trying to get away, but there was no chance of him getting the wire off, never mind escaping. 

"So, now we've got that up in the air, I'm going to be blunt here Charles. I don't have a lot of time to waste here asking you questions, so I want you to tell me about the explosives you are planning on detonating in the cathedral later today." 

Beanie looked away trying not to panic, but the look of confusion and shock, even fear on the other three's faces told him they didn't know about this, and they certainly didn't look like they would condone it. 

"You know, we have linked you to the KKK. You know how much time you can do for that, even if we stop this thing? Do you know how many of the activities which are unrelated to you will still be pinned on you? Never mind after you kill the thousands of Negro's today. If you don't get lethal injection life is the best your going to be offered. And given the number of coloured occupants and guards in prison, along with the white people who don't like racists, you may wish you got the death penalty after all." 

Jack knew he was exaggerating now, but he could see it was working on Charles. He could almost see the cogs turning in his head as he tried to figure the best way out of his situation. Jack decided that the best thing to do would be to push him, giving him no time to organise his thoughts. Then there was more chance of him giving in easily. 

"So, let me tell you what's gonna happen. You can tell me about this bomb, how I can stop it - all off the record. I let you walk right out of here and we will not cross paths again. You don't, and you will wish you did this the easy way. I will beat the sh!t out of you until I bore of that, then I will have a good friend of mine go pick up your mother, bring her here, there's already a car watching here. We can make her life misery, then you will tell us, or we can always go onto the sisters. After that you and these three friends will be escorted to the Counter Terrorist Unit where all of you will be interrogated by people much less friendly then me. And I guarantee you, you will all be tried for terrorist acts and suspected to be involved with the KKK. We all know how well that will go down in court, if any of you even make it to court." 

"What the hell, we aint no KKK dude what the hell are you talking about?" Yelled one of the three on the other side of the room, sweating with fear. Jack smiled to himself. 

"It doesn't matter if you are or not. The fact that you are here with a suspected member is all we need. For all we know you may be involved." 

Jack had to stop himself for laughing at the kids foolishness, all four of them, well, five really. Jay was stood with his mouth open in both shock and awe. They didn't realise that he was making this up as he went along. 

"Beanie what the hell? He serious? Are you down with the KKK man you didn't tell us nothing about this?" 

Jack didn't give Beanie to respond, and by the look on his face he was having a hard time keeping up with this conversation. He was pale from fear of what was going to happen to him. Jack could easily tell that he was going to talk. He moved over to him and pulled him to his feet by the mans baggy jumper and walked him into the next room whilst instructing Jay to watch the other three. Jack knew that he had to be kind to the kid now, act like he wants to help him. Then he would feel safe, and hopefully tell him what the hell is going on. 

"Charles your a smart guy, I can see that. Your record shows that this is going to be the first offence of this magnitude. I'm giving you a chance to prevent it. I want to help you, but I can only do that if you tell me that the hell is going to happen." 

"If... if I do, then... ah ...... I need time to think, just let me think!" He yelled, stress pouring from him. He was going to crack. 

"I don't have time. These people could be dead any minute. Then its too late for you as well as those innocent people. We both know what will happen to you if this goes down." 

"All right," he whispered, pacing with his hands still behind his back, trying to order his thoughts but it was hard when his eyes kept locking onto his friend on the floor from earlier. "I aint with the KKK man, I didn't even know they were still running. I swear to Christ I aint involved with that sh!t." 

"Just prove that to me Charles, that's all I'm asking."

"There's a bomb. Its going to go off I a couple of hours. In the bell tower."

"How do you know this?" 

"I helped make the device." 

"Okay..." Jack muttered thinking aloud. "I'm going to call my contact. Sit down on the floor, don't move a muscle." 

Jack wondered back into the main room to check on Jay while pulling out his cell and ringing Tony. 

"Almeida." 

"Tony its Jack." 

"Jack what the hell are you doing now?" 

"Listen, I have information on the bomb-"

"We know where the bomb is Jack, we have teams on the way." 

"What information did the people give you?" Jack asked curiously. 

He herd Tony sigh before he spoke. "There's a man in the lower region of the cathedral. He is going to detonate the bomb when the place is full. He has a trigger device so we are going to try grab him discretely, or disarm the bomb before he has the chance to push the button." 

"Tony I'm going to call you back." 

Jack hung up the phone and thought about the new information, he would question Charles, see if the information corresponded. He believed what the guy had told him, but it could still be a lie so the bomb can go off. 

Jack walked back into the room and Beanie was right where he left him. 

"Tell me about the trigger device." 

Jack knew he had caught him off guard with his question, the shock in his eyes showed him. The guy hadn't been expecting him to know about this. 

"Listen, if I tell you this, you have got to give my family protection. If they find out I leaked this information, which is likely due to the four people sat in the other room, I'm dead. My sisters are dead, and my mothers dead. You protect them, I'll help you stop the bomb. That's a pretty good deal Jack don't you think?" 

Jack felt sorry for the kid, he recognised the worry as he spoke of his family. He was so consumed with the kids fear that he didn't pick up on the fact that he had never told him his name. 


	14. Confused?

Jack waited a moment, making it appear that he was thinking the deal over. He thought about Beanies request, if someone was willing to hurt his family there must be some powerful people involved in this assignment. He decided to leave that angle alone for now, he would pursue it after he prevented the bomb. 

"I can do that Charles. But before I can do anything else I need the information. You know I can't do anything before I have that."

Beanie nodded to himself before swallowing hard. He was still scared, which was good. 

"They said they had a man, a diversion. He was to have a trigger, but the device it is chipped to is fake. Its all a ploy so that the one at the top of the place will go off. With the amount of juice in there, the whole building will collapse. The idea was that the cops would figure that the place was clear and allow it to go on, y'know, so then there would be maximum casualties." 

Jack watched him, looking for any sign that he may be lying. He saw nothing. He quickly rubbed at his eyes before heading back into the main room and seeing Jay looking red with embarrassment. The gun he had given him earlier was out in his hand, and Jack had a pretty good idea of what had happened, seen as the three men were laughing at him and Jay was clearly angry. 

"What the hell man?" Jay yelled in Jack's direction, clearly embarrassed. 

Jack gave him a curious look, which made Jay continue. 

"You give me a gun man, but no bullets? What the hells up with that?" 

Jack tried not to laugh as he realised what had happened. 

"You were only supposed to use it if you needed to, to protect yourself. Not intimidate people. What did you try to do, shoot a round in the roof or something?" 

Jay turned beat red now, and Jack assumed he had guessed right. Jay had been trying to show off to the guys and had instead made a pretty big fool of himself. 

"Still man, what if I had needed to shoot someone, if I was in real danger dude, I'd be dog meat now." 

"Jay, I knew you wouldn't need it, all right.... And I didn't want to waste bullets for the round you would probably put through your foot if you had tried to use it." 

"What the hell! I know how to use a gun, I got plenty of these things at my place," he said, now trying to regain some dignity while the snickers could still be herd from the three restrained men. 

"Jay that's probably something you shouldn't be telling a cop," Jack remarked dryly, causing Jay to get even more frustrated before he stormed into the other room where Jack assumed he would calm himself down. Jack wanted to laugh, but knew he needed to focus. He rang Tony once more. 

"Jack this better be good, I'm on my way to the cathedral with teams right now," he answered, still annoyed. 

"Listen, I have information on the bomb. Your going for the wrong thing-" 

"Jack I don't know where your getting your intel from but we know what we are doing here, we have a reliable source, were going to prevent this thing." 

"The bomb is designed to fool you Tony, its a diversion-" 

"Enough Jack, all right. Your not helping anyone here. You wanna help, turn yourself in to C.T.U, there's a warrant out for your arrest for ignoring protocol," he paused, his voice softening too, he sounded like even he didn't agree with what he was about to tell him, "Look Hammond's given the men on the perimeter a direct order that you are not to step foot inside the cathedral. They have permission to use force, they believe you are a threat to yourself and others. Jack, they found your medication in the trash. Orders are shoot to wound if you somehow get inside. So do us both a favour, all right, go to C.T.U, clear your name." 

Jack held the phone to his ear lightly as he tried to comprehend what he had herd. He couldn't believe Hammond's order, a threat to himself? He squeezed his eyes shut before quickly opening them, trying to push away the thoughts swirling around his head, he had to get this under control. 

"Whatever Tony, Hammond can do what he wants. But I'm not giving myself up until I have stopped this thing, the real thing," he said, putting an emphasis on 'real.' 

Tony hung up the phone shaking his head slightly, he could almost hear the strain in Jacks voice as he tried to control his temper. 

Jack headed back into the room with Jay and Beanie and noticed them both tense up when he approached them, he assumed it was because he was clearly furious. He paced around the room back and forth with his hands in his hair as he thought about how he could do this. He decided that he would just have to go their and somehow find a way inside, then disarm the bomb. He rolled this over in his head as he grabbed Beanie. 

"Will I be able to disarm it?" 

"Yes. It has the standard configuration. They didn't expect it to be found so they didn't need to waste any money making it special." 

"Jay. I want you to stay here, watch these five. If I get there and find out I've been given misinformation, your gonna have to help me. Keep your cell line open. Got it?" 

"Yeah man sure, but if I'm gonna be keeping guard, I need a gun that works. With bullets." 

Jack looked aggravated but tossed Jay his own before jogging out of the house and back to his car. He had plenty of weapons stored in the back of the car. They weren't going to be a problem, getting inside the cathedral was. 

Tony sat inside the helicopter and watched the view pass him by before pulling out his cell phone. He was nervous as hell, he was treading on thin ice here. If C.T.U. found out what he had done, he would be in big trouble. He began to write his text message, before clicking send. He closed his cell back up and placed it in his pocket as they got closer and closer to their destination. He began to chew on his nails as nerves got the better of him. He prayed this would work out the way they had planned. They had spent too much time on it for something to go wrong now. 

Chase herd the familiar beep of his phone and opened it slowly with his hand, pressing the appropriate button to read the new message he had. He read it carefully and frowned, before heading down to the furnished basement where Kim was sat watching a movie. She saw him close the door behind him before he turned to face her, worry on his face. He sat down next to her on the small couch and she pulled her arms around him tightly, she was scared, they all were. 

"It's about to go down. He's making this harder on himself, like we planned, but it should all be over soon," he whispered. 


	15. Getting in

Jack drove the car fast, but not fast enough to draw attention to himself or get pulled over. He found himself a few streets away from the cathedral and parked the car, urging Tony's words to stay out of his head. _You are a threat to yourself and others... _He knew thinking about Hammond and Tony and the rest of C.T.U wouldn't help him, it would only anger him. Although anger is sometimes good too much can cause people to behave erratically. And he knew that the amount of anger he had built up inside would be enough to blow the damn cathedral up itself. 

He looked across the street and despite being a good three hundred yards from the building he could still make it out clearly, despite the forestry which surrounded the area. He knew the trees would help him hide from the many cops around the area, any one of them could be looking for him. He could see three choppers on the side field belonging to C.T.U which told him that Tony along with SWAT would be there. He had to be careful, he couldn't afford to be spotted. 

Jack pulled the visor down in his car and glanced in the small rectangular mirror at his face. The blood from a gash above his ear had dried thickly over his cheek, neck and ear despite his earlier attempts to clean it off. He spat onto the sleeve of his jumper after pulling it down some, and roughly cleared the blood away until his skin was a slight pink colour. Part of it the blood, part of it from the sleeve. He had a few bruises coming through around the gash and his left eye was slightly swollen, but he wouldn't stand out because of those things alone, he guessed they would only be visible from a close distance. The red marks on his neck had almost faded too, so they weren't going to draw any unneeded attention to him either. 

He climbed out of the car and looked himself down. His clothes were tatty, the trousers filthy from wrestling on the floor earlier, a small hole had appeared on his left knee. His thin black jumper was in a similar condition, except it now had blood down the sleeve too. He was contemplating taking it off but the now cool breeze made him change his mind, so he simply patted his hair down and decided he would have to make do with how he looked. At least the local cops wouldn't suspect him to be the wanted federal agent, given his current appearance. He would just have to avoid everyone from C.T.U and other law enforcement divisions who knew him by face, by keeping his head down. 

He moved over to the back of the car and grabbed a gun and spare clips, before putting them in his holster. He grabbed a small black pouch and placed that in his pocket, before slamming the trunk and heading across the road. He walked down the street and kept his head down low, before he herd some sort of a commotion. He jogged across the road and ducked down into some of the brush surrounding the cathedral to get a better look. He crawled through the brush into the area made up of trees, now just a few hundred yards away from the cathedral itself. He could see the area was busy, hundreds of people of all ethnicity were wandering around the streets and grounds, all wondering why they had been told to stay away. Jack realised it was good that the grounds were so big, otherwise the scene would have been too chaotic for the police to find one man amidst the crowd. 

Crouching further forward he looked around for any sign of where the commotion was coming from, and soon enough saw a middle aged white man being roughly taken out of the big wooden entrance doors which led the way into the building. He assumed this was the distraction. Three men of SWAT stood both behind and in front of the guy, with another one on each of the mans arms. The local cops hurried behind them trying to understand what was actually happening. The guy was handcuffed, which Jack guessed was why he wasn't putting up too much of a fight. That and he probably knew he didn't have to try get away, his instructions were probably to distract the cops and nothing else. 

Jack surveyed the area once more. A lot of the cops were working on crowd control, asking people to move away, telling them another 30 minutes and they would be allowed inside. Others were simply watching the SWAT guys green with envy as once again the big guns had taken over their territory and there was nothing they could do about it. 

Jack put his head down and thought about the best way to do this. He had no option, he just had to run in and hope he wasn't spotted or shot - there was no way around this. There was only one entrance into the cathedral. If he didn't do this, who knew how many people would die. He crawled a few more feet forward and looked around. Most peoples attention seemed to be with the man who was now shouting as he was moved over to the chopper. He couldn't see Tony so he assumed he was elsewhere waiting to be able to talk to the man. 

Pushing himself up to a crouch he made his way to the edge of the clearing and walked out of the bushed and trees at a fast pace. He walked with a purpose straight towards the entrance doors, hoping nobody would draw attention to him. He was only a hundred yards away when he realised nobody was guarding the door and he had to smirk at that, some cop had probably screwed up, Tony would go crazy when he realised. He kept his head down as he made it through the doors, he was shocked when he realised he was actually inside, and he let out a quick shaky breath to try relax himself some. He was finally here. 

He turned a corner and looked around the huge stone room, spotting some stairs at the far end leading upwards. He jogged across the long room and couldn't help but try read the names engraved into the slabs of pavement shaped like coffins as he crossed them. He had always wondered if people were really buried underneath them, or if it was simply a tribute to some religious people. He realised he had slowed down distracted by this and hurried his pace again, he knew how dangerous it could be if he were spotted by someone, he only had one chance at this. 

Jack climbed the spiralling steps three at a time until he reached the top. He looked over the concrete banister type guard and herd a noise. He froze and ducked instinctively, before peeking over the small wall, wondering who could be making the noise, the place was empty after all. The noise got louder and he realised it was coming from the entrance, but he couldn't see it from his position due to one of many grand pillars blocking his path. He creeped down the room which simply held even more seats for busy days, until he could finally see what was going off at the back of the building. 

His mouth fell open in confusion as he realised it was the protesters. People and families of all ages were filtering inside talking excitedly of the nights events, how this was going to take them a step closer to equality. There wasn't a police officer in sight. Jack watched almost mesmerised while his mind fired frantic question at him. Why hadn't they searched the building after extracting the man, why weren't they taking the precautions they should be? Why were they so keen to sacrifice these people? 


	16. Father Andrew

Jack watched the people file into the building and mill around the grand room and made sure he wasn't mistaken, that they really were the protesters. He spotted a group of young students holding signs up, wearing printed shirts and his fear was confirmed. He ducked back down behind the wall into a crouched pushing his hands through his hair, whispering to himself sternly, that he had to think. 

He knew he had to get the people out but he didn't have many options. He was certain that their was another bomb in the building, and so made the decision that he couldn't take the risk of leaving the people inside. Yes he knew the bomb was a standard device and he would have no troubles disarming it (which was good as he hadn't seen anyone from NEST around the area, another worrying factor,) but he had no idea of when it was set to go off. 

He realised there was no option other than to evacuate the building. He knew that by doing this the forces may realise that he is inside and come after him, but right now it didn't seem as though he had a alternative choice. He would have to make sure he didn't get caught or deal with the consequences. 

Jack allowed his head to drop down while he thought over the situation, hoping to come across any loop hole which would allow him to solve the problem easily. He knew he was only wasting time and preventing the inevitable. In reality he couldn't waste another minute, he had to move fast. He pushed himself back up to a standing position using the wall for support and almost fell back down when he realised someone was stood before him, only a few feet away, watching him intently. Jack was about to instinctively draw his gun when he noticed the richly coloured vestments the man was wearing. This was obviously his cathedral, he would probably be leading the services throughout the night long protest. 

"I'm sorry to startle you," he said kindly as he closed the space between them to offer his shaking and wrinkled hand, "I'm Father Andrew."

Jack shook the hand cautiously but didn't introduce himself, he was too busy assessing the situation in his head. He was mostly concerned with his not noticing the priest, but he had been lost in thought and he guessed it was understandable given the pressure he was under. Understandable, but so not like him, he thought wearily. He watched as the old man stared at him and began to feel uncomfortable. 

"Are... are you all right?" He gently probed, sensing the mans unease. "Your face looks sore.... and you looked worried, while you were thinking... almost scared." 

Jack feigned a smile, "I'm fine, thank you. Tripped over my shoelaces earlier," he offered as an explanation, placing a short laugh on the end hoping to convince the man so he would go off on his way. 

"May I ask what you are doing all the way up here, are you with the protest?" He enquired, mainly to break the silence that had formed between himself and the stranger. 

"I'm sorry, I should have explained. I'm a Federal Agent, and am.... Checking out the area for safety areas," he felt bad for lying to a priest but tried to ignore the feeling. 

"Agent...." Father Andrew asked as his curiosity was replaced by intrigue. 

"Sorry, It's Federal Agent Jack Bauer." 

"Jack Bauer..." Father Andrew rolled the name around in his mouth as he tried to remember where he knew the name from, there was no doubting its familiarity. 

He paused a second and Jack watched as realisation crossed his faith quickly. He frantically searched his pockets before pulling out a much folded sheet of photocopy. Jack felt his stomach drop, he already knew what was on the paper. They had sent his vitals over, that had to be it. He watched calmly as the elder man read down the page before giving Jack a long stare, making certain he was correct. 

"It's you. You were involved with the plan to blow this place up!" His voice was a mixture of disbelief and anger, yet Jack was just as stunned as he was at what C.T.U had told people he was up to. 

"No that's not right, I'm a Federal Agent-" 

"A rouge one, is what it says here. There's even a warning here that you are dangerous and unstable." 

Jack was silent, he knew that arguing wasn't going to convince this man. He realised he would have to convince him a different way, if he didn't get the mans trust he was going to struggle to go on with his initial plan. 

"Father, do I look unstable, have I given you any indication that I present a threat to yourself?" Father Andrew paused as he thought about how calm the mans voice was, soft, gentle even. Jack took his silence as a indication that he should continue, "I am trying to prevent this bomb. My people believe the threat is over but I have information that proves otherwise." 

"Why on Earth would the police declare this place safe if there was _another_ bomb here?" 

"Because I have different sources to them." He paused, noticing the effect his words seemed to be having on the priest. "Father, I am not a religious man. But if I don't get those people out of this building right now and find this bomb, we had both better start praying." 


	17. The Bbbbbeeeeeelllssssssssss!

Father Andrew shivered involuntarily. He wasn't too much of a trusting person, but this man stood before him seemed too honest to be lying. He could see the desperation in his eyes, he knew he was telling the truth. He didn't know what it was, but something in the depths of his mind told him he had to help this person. He knew something bad would happen if he didn't. 

"I understand. What do you need me to do?" He watched the younger man who appeared to be lost in thought. About what, the priest didn't care to think about. He could only imagine the pressure he was under. 

Jack finally looked up. "I need to get those people out of the building, but I need to do so, without drawing attention to myself. If the realise I'm here they'll storm in, and I will not be able to disarm the bomb." His calmness was gone, the stress was pouring off of him. His voice was rushed, he was struggling to find a way out of his current situation, and he was running out of time. Suddenly a thought struck him, and his eyes lit up at the idea; he just hoped the priest would agree to it. It was the only chance they had, everything would depend on this. 

"Sir, I have an idea, but I need your help." 

Father Andrew didn't ask, he simply nodded. He would do everything in his power to help this man. 

They made there way down the steps onto the main floor, Jack noticed how the room was considerably fuller now. Jack moved across to the entrance fast, the priest followed behind a little slower, having to stop to say hello to a few of the regular people who wanted to greet him. Jack stood so he was in direct line with the wide entrance, but a good ten feet inside the building too. They wouldn't be able to get anybody in without him seeing them clearly, it was as good a position as he was going to get. Father Andrew stood before him now with his hands at his sides, ready for it to begin. Jack took a deep breath and drew his gun whilst grabbing the man by his throat and holding the gun against his temple tightly, the other arm wrapped around his neck, making sure he had a strong grip on the man. This had to look real. A few screams could be herd as soon as the gun was visible, and people began to look around confused as to what the commotion was about. "Get your hands up in the air now!" Jack screamed, his voice cracking in the process. It was a large room and he wanted to make sure everyone herd him. He wanted the people to run out in fear, the faster they were gone, the better his chances of stopping this were. "Now!" He yelled as the people began to panic, most complying with his order. Sensing he had the peoples attention he continued. "Slowly, I want you to exit the building. Straight out this door," he added, nodding his head in the direction of the large open doors. 

The people hurried outside, all petrified, reacting like any normal person would do under the circumstances. Jack scanned the room, looking for any 'hero's' who might be trying to hide somewhere. So far it appeared that everybody was complying with his order. With C.T.U already off the scene he wondered how long it would take for them to get here. Sooner than he expected a bunch of police men ran towards the entrance with their guns pointed inside, in the general direction of Jack. He could hear them telling him to drop the weapon, to give it up. Jack didn't flinch, he knew they were basic L.A.P.D. and wouldn't do anything until the big dogs got there. Not when the hostage was a priest, no chances would be taken. 

"Stay where you are," Jack yelled in there direction. They did so, they had no intention of coming in. Especially when the other protesters were still pushing to get out, the room almost empty now. Jack waited until the very few people were left. 

"Hey," He yelled at the small group who all froze in terror, "When you leave this building, I want you to close these big two doors, okay, you got that?" 

He watched satisfied as the four people swallowed hard and nodded their heads, prepared to do anything to get out. They knew the chances of them surviving a hostage situation with a mad man would be slim, at best. The doors closed slowly, the group of cops not stopping them, they didn't want to have to clean this mess up if it all went wrong, they would let the Fed's take care of it. 

The large doors slammed shut and the room was considerable darker. Jack let go of the priest and nodded at him, his silent way of thanking him, the priest guessed. Father Andrew also noticed the darkness of the room and moved onto the far wall. After the flick of a few switches the low hanging lights attached the ceiling by old fashioned chains lit up, giving the room more light and everything a shadow in the process. 

"All right, that bought us some time. Where's the bell tower?" His earlier calmness had returned. He had to be in a still frame of mind while he disarmed the bomb. A slight twitch could set it off. He was already preparing himself for his task, taking his mind into the zone he needed it to be. 

He turned to face the man when he realised he hadn't answered his question. Jack felt his stomach drop when he saw the confused, almost helpless look painted over the mans face. 

"We don't have a bell tower." 


	18. What bells?

Jack stared at the man in stunned silence, he hadn't been expecting a problem with the location of the bomb, he thought he had at least one thing covered. 

"Wh... what do you mean there is no bell tower?" 

Father Andrew could sense his panic and realised that this was probably where the bomb was supposed to be. "The building was remodelled about 18 months ago. Health and safety inspectors picked this place out with a fine tooth comb. They said the bell tower was dangerous, added unnecessary strain to the structure of the building. In bad weather conditions is could have collapsed, taking the whole building down with it." 

Jack cursed under his breath, this was a problem. He knew in the worst case he could get himself and the priest from the building, but after looking through one of the circular windows on the back way he could see there were a lot of cops on the surrounding land, and hundreds of the protesters waiting behind the cordoned off area. Many of those would get hurt if the building was to blow. Plus, he didn't like the idea of allowing such a historical part of LA to be ruined either. He had to do find the bomb. 

He stopped pacing and pulled out his cell, dialling Jay's phone. He was still with Beanies so he could help. 

Jay herd his cell ring and quickly pulled over to the curb. He turned to look at Beanie, who sat beside him unrestrained. He showed him that it was Jack who was calling and placed a finger to his lips, Beanie nodded in response. He had to stay quiet, they couldn't give anything away to Jack. 

"Yeah man?" He answered, making his accent harsher. 

"Jay. Your still in the house with the suspects right?" 

"Yeah man jus like you told me. They aint moved a muscle now I got one of your loaded guns dude." 

"Good, listen. I need the man Beanie. He told me the bomb was hidden inside the bell tower. I'm here now Jay, and there is no bell tower."

"What?" He shrieked, clearly as shocked as Jack had been. 

"Yeah I know. You have to get Beanie to tell me where it's hidden, really. If he doesn't give in, threaten his family like I did earlier. You have to do this kid."

"Aight man, no problem. I'll call you back in ten," he said before hanging up. 

Beanie was watching him with curiosity, Jay had paled some, as though he had seen a ghost. 

"What's up man?" He asked, he was beginning to feel unsettled. 

"The bomb, its supposed to be in the bell tower right?" 

A slow nod of the head was Beanies reply. 

"There is no bell tower." 

Silence. 

The two men sat and thought, confused and angry that this was happening, as there was nothing either of them could do to fix it. Finally Beanie perked up. 

"We gotta call Tony." 

Jack paced the floor again, getting more and more frustrated with himself for allowing this to happen. He started thinking through everything he needed to do. For starters he needed to evacuate this man, but discreetly. If the cops found out he didn't have a hostage they would storm the place, arrest him, then let the people back in, lead them to their deaths. 

"Sir I need to get you out of here."

"Like hell you do," snapped Father Andrew, his own anger with the situation becoming stronger. 

"Sir this building could blow up at and second. I don't even know where the bomb is, so I can't stop it." 

"I'm aware of the situation Mr. Bauer," he replied, calming some. "But I am also aware of the fact that when your friend rings you back with a location, you have no idea how to find it, and this is a very big building. You don't have a chance of stopping it without me."

"Sir, if we do get a location, we may not get there in time, anything could happen, there are many variables you have to consider. In all honesty sir, getting out of here is doubtful at best." 

"I know. This is my cathedral and I'm not leaving it. If the Lord expects this to happen, he expects me to go too. I'm not going to disobey him."

Jack said nothing. He understood the mans faith, yet he couldn't understand what could compel a man to believe that some being had decided he was to die, and just accept it the way he had. No anger, no questions of why? 

Although he didn't like the idea, he decided he would go by the mans wishes. It was the least he could do as he was putting him in a life threatening situation. 

"What do you mean there's no bell tower?!" 

"Listen Tony, calm down man. None of us were expecting this." 

"Don't tell me to calm down Jay," Tony snarled, "I'm the one holding all the cards here. I got Division on my back, I'm trying to stop them from killing Jack, trying to stop them from taking control of the building. All the while I'm trying to make Jack practically kill himself! Do you know how complicated this is getting? I'm struggling to understand the rules here, I'm beginning to doubt that he is going to understand any of this. The lines too blurred" 

"Look Tony, I know what your doing there," he spoke in a gentle tone. "but whether Jack chooses to thank us for this or not doesn't matter, it wasn't our call. Chase was pretty sure he would be dead by his own hand sooner or later if we didn't do this, and he's right. At least this way, if Jack understands or not, he's got his life." 

Tony was silent while he tried to sort through his emotions. "I just want it to work," he whispered. "It seemed like such a good plan 6 months ago. But now, I just think that we have messed him around big time, almost put him through hell. I don't think it's going to make him suddenly decided that his life worth living Wha.... what if it tips him the other way?" 

"I know, I've been thinking the same thing all day but we've just gotta go by Chase's judgement, him and Kim know how Jack will react better than us. Right now, we have to forget that any of this was planned. We have Jack in a building, with a bomb. We need to find it Tony, or this plan will fail, in the worst way possible. I'm sorry that's falling on your shoulders, but it has. Get those satellites." 

"I'm on it," Tony snapped, before hanging up his phone. He looked around the tech room for a moment, the images were still downloading. He wiped the tears that were forming in his eyes and slammed both fists down onto the computer terminal. 

Right now his anger was aimed at Jack. He was mad that he made them feel they had to do this to save him. He knew that wasn't the truth though, he was frustrated that their plan to save him was going to do the opposite. It would kill him. 


	19. Darkness

Tony squinted at the enlarged image splayed across his computer screen. He had coverage of the cathedral, now he was trying to spot anything that could be the bomb. He had gone through most of the shots and found nothing, he was beginning to get nervous. On the second to last shot, one of the cellar, he saw it. A box, rectangular, strapped to a beam in the centre of the room, on the ceiling. This would make sense, Tony thought, if powerful enough it could still bring the whole building down. He dialled Jays number while trying to remember which of the people they interrogated had told them the wrong position for the bomb, he would pay them another visit when this was over. 

"You got it man?" 

"Yeah. Listen, you need to tell Jack it is in the cellar, strapped to a beam on the ceiling." 

"You sure."

"Yes," he snapped, before hanging up. Now he had to call Hammond and give him a situation report on the man they found in the cathedral (who was not talking despite there persuasive methods) and explain why its best that they have left the cathedral take over by Jack to the local cops. He was still struggling to explain that one, he couldn't say it was so his plan would work out nice. He decided he would simply have to tell Brad that Jack was acting on his own authority, and seen as there is a warrant for his arrest he is no longer involved with C.T.U. Therefore they have no jurisdiction in the area. Seen as the cathedral is empty of innocents and they have the man who was going to trigger the device, there is no longer a threat posed. Therefore the scene belonged to L.A.P.D. It was a long shot, he was praying Brad would buy it. 

Jack flipped his cell shut, a brief smile quickly flickered across his face, before it was replaced with seriousness once more. 

"It's in the cellar." 

Father Andrew nodded his head, they had one of those. "This way." 

Jack followed slowly, Father Andrew was clearly going as fast as he could, but it was taking him some time. They moved through the building, and down two more spiralling stair cases. They passed through the dungeons, at which point Jack couldn't help but look at in awe of this history. They got to a trap door and Jack opened it up, it was too stiff for the old man to open. While Jack worked with opening it, Father Andrew decided to take this time to explain why they had to take such a long route to get here. 

"They made this place about a hundred years after they originally built the building. It was where they stored their valuables. Which is why its hidden so well." 

Jack just nodded, he now had the door fully open. He looked down and realised it was a high drop, the elderly man wouldn't make it. He looked up at him, the priest knew it too. 

"Its to the right of the room. You will feel a concrete door. The main cellar room is on the other side of that." 

"Thank you. Sir you had better leave the building now. If the forces come in they will not find me. Get as far away as you can from here, it could still blow." 

The man looked at Jack sadly. " I already told you. If this building dies then so do I. It is what He intends. I will wait here for your return." 

Jack realised there was no point in arguing with the man. Instead he gave him the briefest nod of a head, then lowered himself into the blackness. His feet dangled through the air a moment before he let go of the ledge his fingers were wrapped tightly around, then he hit the floor. The room he now stood in was pitch black, the light from the hole he had climbed through not making its way through the nothingness. He couldn't see anything. As he took a few tentative steps forward he lifted his hand to the rough ceiling, noticing almost immediately that it had a steep downwards slope to the north. 

As Father Andrew had instructed him to move to his right he knew this slope wouldn't effect him, but he stooped anyway, always cautious. He stepped backwards and his back met the wall, he could feel the coldness through his sweater and realised the room was made of pure stone. This thought stopped his movement as a sudden worry hit him. The door was stone, that's how he would know what it was. How would he tell the difference, what if he couldn't find the door? He thought about his torch in the boot of his car and mentally kicked himself, before moving on. The bomb was still ticking, he would just have to search for the door. 

He began to side step his way along the wall, his back merely inches from making contact with it. He ran his left hand gently along the wall in the hopes that he would somehow notice the door when he came to it. Right now he was working on preventing his mind from listing the possible insects there could be surrounding him. The thought was as comforting as the shudder which ran through his body each time his hand touched something he presumed was a cobweb. Something he certainly didn't want on his hand, or anywhere near him for that matter. 

He could feel himself starting to panic, his hands were shaking slightly, he had to calm himself down and stop thinking about his surroundings as he was getting distracted. He shook his head to clear it as he took another step, then he froze. The texture beneath his hand had suddenly changed. It was no longer coarse but now smooth and even. This had to be the door. Jack turned to face it and ran both hands over the wall until he found an edge. It wasn't much but he managed to get his fingertips beneath it, before he started to pull. Nothing. It wouldn't budge. 

His breathing became more laboured as he struggled to open the heavy door. Realising that it was too heavy for him to move he kicked at it in frustration. He herd the noise echo from the movement and felt the vibration through his hands. Getting an idea he placed both palms flat against the wall and began to push against it. Little happened at first but after more effort he could feel it move before him. More determined than ever his knee was know joining in the effort, pushing against the obstructing object with all of the energy he could muster. He was finally rewarded for his efforts when the door jutted forwards, leaving a gap just big enough for Jack to pull his lean frame through which he did immediately, his body now running off of an adrenaline high. 

As he stepped into the new room he instantly noticed the climate change, it was even colder that the other had been, his body began to shiver involuntary. He rubbed at his arms in an attempt to warm himself whilst looking around his new surroundings. It was still black, nothing else could be seen. An idea suddenly came to him and he cursed himself for not thinking of it sooner, he could use the light on his cell phone. 

He pulled it from his pocked and flipped it open, the light leaving a short path of vision from the phone. It was better than nothing. He wandered around the edge of the room taking each step carefully, he was more than aware of the bombs presence in the room. Finally he got lucky as he came across a dusty light switch drilled into the wall. He flipped it on without hesitation, more than pleased to see it worked as his eyes screwed themselves up in defence to the sudden brightness. 

Once his eyes had adjusted he looked around the room seeing nothing but a blue crate in the corner. Looking up to the ceiling he was surprised to see that there were indeed beams running parallel along it, the sort you would expect to find in a countryside cottage. More importantly, he observed, was the rectangular box strapped to the centre beam. 

He dragged the crate over and used it to stand on whilst he quickly examined the box. He pulled out his knife and carefully cut through the straps holding it to the beam. Once the blade worked its way through the material Jack steadily grabbed it and lowered it down to the top of the crate. He stepped down and kneeled down besides it suspiciously, using the crate as a tabletop. He checked the exterior of the box and saw noting which indicated that taking the lid off would trigger anything, so he gently removed the grey lid and tossed it aside. 

His breath was coming through normally now and his pulse was steady, his eyes fixated on the sight before him. It was a simple mechanism but there was enough explosive to take out another three buildings as well as the cathedral. It was the timer which alarmed him. The screen was split, the top half displayed a number which went up each second the other number went down. It was recording the time the bomb had been activated for, almost twelve hours. This comforted Jack some, at least his actions hadn't triggered the device. If this did go wrong, he wasn't responsible. The number on the lower half of the screen made him gasp though, wiping away any comfort he may have felt. He had just over two minutes before the bomb detonated. 


	20. A different kind of darness

He quickly pulled the black pouch out from his pocket, which he had thoughtfully taken from the car earlier. As he opened it up he tried to calm his breathing, shaky hands could slip on the wrong wire and blow the whole thing up. He laid the small tools out, they were old and scratched; he could still remember his father giving him them after he passed the explosives course during his time in the Army. It had been as a joke, but he was surprised at how many times he had to use them, just like now. 

He pulled out the prong and the small tool with the sharp yet delicate edge, which would be sufficient for cutting out wires from the bundle of them. He surveyed the wires running through the side of the box as he tried to think back to his training days when he had passed the course with ease. The different slogans to remember which wires were friendly and which were not coming into his mind. Taking a deep breath he cut through the yellow and white, making sure to stay clear of the purple one that was nestled between them tightly, he knew that was a dangerous one. So far nothing had happened, which was good. 'Only a few more to go,' he told himself for reassurance. 

Taking another long breath he snipped through the blue one after separating it from a black and green. He knew there was only one more wire to go, he was partially sure himself, and with the way the device was ordered, he was certain. The wires were set into bundles of three, some needing to be disable from each section. 'Just one more wire,' he thought to himself, and a minute and a half to do it. 

He quickly separated the last set and felt his heartbeat quicken as he frantically tried to remember if it was the red or the green that needed to go, he had no idea. He closed his eyes gently and though back to the month he had spent in England, doing the course. They had sent him their along with three other promising candidates who looked like they would have a long and prosperous career in the service. They sent them to the Wellingborough institute for two reasons, one being so the people in there unit wouldn't know, and also because this institute offered the best training in this field. He could see the classroom they had been taught in, ten people in all, from various locations around the world, ironically no English pupils taking the course. He pushed his thoughts back to the colour coding slogans and thought through them rapidly. Something in his mind kept telling him "green for go," but he knew that was his logical thinking, not his detonation training. 

He could hear the old frail professor telling them, he could practically see his wrinkled face as he spoke. Jack could hear him, red for... 

"Jack?" His radio barked through a bout of static. "Jack its Tony come in."

"What's up Tony!" Jack snapped frantically, sure the man had just lost him his answer. 

"Jack you gotta get out of the building Hammond just ordered troops in to get you, despite the hostage, dead or alive, he's pissed." 

"Tony I found the bomb. Times running out. I'd not even make it out of the building if I set off now. Get them out." 

"Jack I can't... we don't even know if we-" 

"Just do it Tony!" Jack yelled as he turned the radio off and slung it over his shoulder and herd it clatter on the concrete somewhere behind him. He glanced back down at the red timer, 50 seconds. 

"Come on Jack, think,' he whispered as he pinched the bridge of his nose. The memory wouldn't return, he couldn't se anything but the alarm, then flashbacks of the bomb attached to Chase's wrist, the devices both had that same red timer. He shook his head rapidly he had to stop thinking about that and concentrate. Only 30 seconds left! 

His mind flashed to the priest upstairs, so dedicated to his faith that he would embrace his death. Jack realised that he wasn't as brave as the dear man, he had thought he wanted death, even pleaded for it recently, be he didn't. He was too much of a coward to ask for death, he was too scared of what the afterlife had in store for him. He was ashamed to think of Terri, if he did meet her again, he would have to face up to his letting her down, he knew he wasn't strong enough for that, dead or alive. He had to do this. 

The alarms beep, it changed, becoming more high pitched and faster as it counted down the final 10 seconds. "Red means stop,' Jack thought, before hastily wondering if this was just a result of the traffic lights. He thought it over in his mind, he was totally unsure. He realised he had a 50 percent chance, if he didn't try he would die anyway. Grasping the delicate red wire, he slashed the small tool through it, then stepped back, terrified. His breathing was coming out in shallow rapid breaths, his palms sweaty and itching, he was absolutely terrified. 

Everything seemed to go into slow motion. The sound the device made as the red wire was slashed, was loud pitched and on going, Jack was sure he'd blew it. He was a dead man. He looked down at the device through a blurry vision, the alarm had stopped still on 4 seconds. It took him a second to register this as he brushed his sweaty hair back and rubbed the tears from his eyes, wanting to be sure he was right. He couldn't see, his vision was getting worse, his hands were shaking, no, his whole body was trembling. He realised he was still hyperventilating and tried to calm down, but he couldn't. His efforts had him leaning against the wall, before he collapsed to the floor terrified. He closed his eyes as the walls started to spin and his chest began to ache. He whispered a slurred, 'Thank God,' as the darkness finally embraced him. Not death, he thought, just darkness. He could live with that. 


	21. Brad and Tony

Tony swung open the door and jumped down to the grassy bank the helicopter was now sat upon, and reached for his radio once more, with trembling hands. 

"Jack? Jack do you copy?" He shouted frantically before glancing at his watch, it had been over 20 minutes since he last made contact with him. He stuffed the radio back in his pocket and ran towards the suits from division who were assembling near the barrier. They had decided to take a more hands on approach after Tony's call filling them in on the situation. The knew they had to take responsibility here now, as the mess had been created by one of there own. 

Tony pushed his way through the crowd looking for Hammond. Maybe he would help, now he knew more of the details. "Brad!" He yelled as he spotted him on the phone, talking into it calmly. Brad flipped his phone shut and looked at Tony annoyed. 

"What is it now? I don't need to warn you about how thin the ice your skating on is." 

"I know sir, but we will deal with the consequences of my actions later. Right now, we need to find Jack."

"SWAT haven't found him. The old mans not talking to us." 

"Wait a minute, you already stormed the building?" Tony asked bewildered. 

"Yes. I told you Tony, I don't care if this was all a set up for Jack, I need this building empty, and the threat gone. Right now, the threat is Jack."

"No, I already told you. There is a bomb in there, but Jacks disarming it - that's what he said when I last made contact with him. Sir, he is not a threat, and I already explained to you why he's acting on his own authority... because of me." 

"Tony, I don't know what the hell you've been playing at today, but we got the bomb this morning. So if your telling me that you held back information of a secondary strike..." 

"Look, I did, but I did it for Jack. Clearly my plan didn't work out as expected." Brad was about to cut it so Tony staled, '"You said you have the man Jack had taken hostage?"

"Yes. He is being checked over by a medic right now. He's claiming he volunteered, someone else protecting Jack, surprise surprise. We're still searching for him. No sign of him yet, or this supposed bomb he's disarming,' he said, stressing the word 'bomb,' showing his disbelief of such thing. 

"Well if you have the hostage there's no reason to arrest Jack. He has the bomb Brad, he told me that when we last spoke. I gave the information to the informant he is using all right!" 

Brad looked at him, confusion and anger running through his eyes. He was totally lost as to what Tony had been up to today, but he had clearly been playing on the edge. Tony sensed he was going to start on with some bull sh!t lecture about his actions, so he started in again. 

"Look - there's no hostage there's no threat. You know I'm right. There's no need for you to use lethal force. It's unnecessary. And... If you tell the men to stand down, I'll tell you where to find him." 

Hammond stared the man down, now furious. Tony had screwed this whole thing up, screwed Jacks head up and was now threatening him. Before he could say anything his own radio beeped. 

"Sir, we found Bauer." 

Tony looked down slightly disappointed he had lost his leverage with Brad.. 

"Found?" He asked, knowing his question would satisfy Tony. 

"Yes sir. Were loading him on to a stretcher now to bring him up." 

"What's wrong?"

"Collins checked him over but isn't too sure, something's wrong, we just don't know what. Sir, he doesn't look too good." 

"All right, bring him up, I'll get a chopper ready to take him to St. Marks." 

"Also sir, we found another device. Its been disarmed. There's enough stuff here to take out a nice chunk of the area." 

Brad looked up at Tony, and through the worry he could make out relief too; at least he hadn't blown the place up. 

"I'll send a crime scene unit down, just get Bauer up here, stat." 

"Copy." 

Brad looked at Tony and headed towards the chopper they would be using to transport Jack. He climbed in and Tony followed, neither communicating to one another. They sat in silence waiting for the team to bring Jack up. Brads thoughts were swirling, he had to take order of this situation, it seemed that Tony had been calling all of the shots, only without them knowing. Tony's mind was racing about what was wrong with Jack. SWAT found him like that so they hadn't harmed him, but something had. 

Dragging him from his thoughts Brad looked at Tony, a frown still plastered on his face. 

"You get your thoughts ordered Almeida. Once we land, I want to know everything. And I want it all Tony, down to the tiniest detail. Christ knows what you were thinking!" He said, raising his voice as his frustration grew. 

Tony looked down, pity seeping in. Ha he made a big mistake here? 

His pity quickly transformed back to worry as he saw two of the SWAT men heading towards them, stretcher between them, Jacks' prone form on it, strapped down. They slid it in and sat besides him, checking him over. 

Tony looked away quickly as the guilt seeped in. For the first time in the six months his operation had taken, he wondered if he had misjudged Jacks ability to handle the situation. If they had been wrong about Jack's reaction to this, it was now too late do anything about it. The damage had already been done. He closed his eyes as he felt the chopper lift off, telling himself that Jack would be fine and one day and would recognise the sacrifices they had made for him. He hoped he was right, or they would all live to regret it. 


	22. Hammond relates

Brad turned and headed back down the long plain corridor towards the room they had taken over, with the intention of taking Tony's statement whilst they waited for Jack. The chopper had touched down thirty minutes previously, and the nurses had rushed the non responsive Jack into the ER to run tests and check him over. Tony waited whilst Brad gave the nurses information of Jack's medical background so they could get a better understanding of his health. Tony hadn't spoken to anyone. He was silent the entire time as his mind ran around in circles, trying to think of a suitable place to start when Brad wanted to hear what he had to say. 

He was also concerned about the involvement of Chase and Kim. Chase more so, as he would be coming back to C.T.U eventually, once he completed his medical leave. This could taint his chances of being offered a position back. Kim was all right as she had no intention of coming back, she'd had it with the place, not that anybody could blame her. He would have to tell Brad of their involvement in the scheme, but he didn't want to do so in a way which might implicate them. He would make sure this was viewed as his mess. He wouldn't have a career once this was over, when they learned the identities of Beanie and Jay, that alone would be enough to fire him... He had to make sure he didn't bring anyone down with him. 

He realised he was shaking and it wasn't from worry for Jack. Somehow he had managed to push that problem out of his mind. He couldn't bear the thought of Jack's reaction to this, never mind his condition. Right know he was balancing on the edge and the chaotic thoughts of Jack would be enough to push him over the edge. He would think about that after he made his way past his first hurdle; Brad Hammond. 

Brad entered the small room which was surprisingly dim despite the strong white walls. Tony perked up and watched as Brad made himself comfortable in a corner chair, just a few feet adjacent to him. Brad seemed to be lost in thought and Tony couldn't being to imagine how angry and confused he was about the whole situation. As though sensing Tony's fear Brad jerked his head up and stared at Tony. He didn't realise he was speaking until he herd his own voice forming words. 

"Tell me what I need to know Tony, so I can get a better understanding of this thing before we put this on record." 

Brad was almost as shocked as Tony to hear his words. He was giving Tony the chance to explain himself off the record, knowing this could save him. It would all depend on how Brad reacted to his scheme now, and for some reason, he felt a little better. Brad had always been a stickler for the rules, but something strange told him maybe today would be different. Maybe for once, Brad would act on emotion instead of statistics. He could be way off, but then why would he give him this chance to speak off the record? Why hadn't he brought a liaison with him from Division? This clearly wasn't a formal affair. 

Again noticing Tony's bewilderment, Brad spoke up once more. This time making his intentions clear. 

"Tony I am a honest man, we both are. I've got a funny feeling you have made a big mess for yourself today, a real big mess." He broke off as he tried to compose his words. "Something's telling me to look at this from a different perspective. Lord knows why... But this, this inkling I have, its the kind you don't just ignore. So start talking, and we'll see if I can help you clean up this mess you've made." 

Tony's jaw dropped slightly, he couldn't believe his ears. Brad Hammond was giving him a second chance, almost looking the other way. This was very out of character, he couldn't quite comprehend it. 

"Sir?" He asked, knowing he needn't say no more. 

"Look, while I don't believe your actions have been ethical, I see where your coming from... We all know Jack, hell, he's lit up Christ knows how many fires we've had to put out. But that doesn't matter, he's always stayed loyal to his country and concentrated on the job. But since he came back, he's like a living zombie. He's only involved in something if there's a risk to it... It's easy to see that he doesn't exactly value his life." 

Brad broke off and the two sat in silence for a while, while he gathered his thoughts once more, it was hard; thinking about this. 

"I think that what you did today, was to try and bring him back to the land of the living. I normally wouldn't condone this, but... Lets just say I once had a friend who was just like Jack is now... All the signs were there, and just like Jack, he didn't give a sh!t, you could point a gun at him and he would have asked you to do him a favour and pull the trigger. We all saw the signs, but did nothing about it. Not a thing." He paused again and swallowed hard as he tried to control himself, "he's dead now, got tired around of waiting for life to end and did the job himself. If we had intervened... Maybe he would still be here. But he isn't. Jack is, and maybe that's down to you, maybe it isn't, who knows. But he's still here, and that's a start." 

He stopped and Tony scratched at his cheek as he tried to compose some sort of response. He hadn't expected Brad to tell him something as personal as this. 

"I sorry sir." Brad just nodded. "Thank you for understanding my situation. I'm going to go check on Jack, then, if you're ready, I'll fill you in on my actions, off the record as you suggested." 

Brad just nodded as Tony headed out of the room. Brad was in a daze, living the memory once more. He was glad there was someone who had the courage to make a difference. He himself hadn't been strong enough when his friend had needed him the most. 


	23. Shortie

The nurse frowned at the man who repeatedly nagged her over her clipboard, but she realised she couldn't stay angry with him for long. He was worried, like so many other patients she had to deal with on a daily basis. He probably didn't realise how annoying he was being right now. 

"Please just tell me?" Tony whined to the young woman. 

"Sir I already told you all I know. The test results will be ready in five minutes. Dr. Paulson ran head scans and a chest screen, as a precaution, to make sure this isn't his hearts doing. There is nothing more I can tell you until we analyse the scans." 

"Well can I see him then?" He asked more politely this time as he calmed down some, reminding himself that it wasn't the nurses fault he was in the mess. This was all his own doing. 

"No, a doctor is stitching him up." 

"What?" Tony asked, what could they need to stitch? In the chopper Jack hadn't been bleeding. Had he been in surgery for something and they weren't telling him? Just what was wrong with Jack? 

"Don't worry, it seems your friend has been in a fight recently. There was a few scrapes and some pretty sore bruising on his face and neck. Dr. Paulson decided that the worst injuries could be stitched to reduce scarring. Its nothing serious, simply a scratch here and there. Now go and rest, I'll bring the results to you and your friend within the next ten to fifteen minutes." 

Tony nodded, defeated and sulked back down to the corridor to there private room where Brad still sat apprehensively. Tony suddenly remembered his phone conversation with Beanie who had told him that Ben, another man involved in their risky sting op, had been knocked out after a fight with Jack. That would explain his injuries. He stopped off at the drinks machine and got himself and Brad a cup of coffee as he put his forgetful mood down to worry and exhaustion. He could cure one of those, at least. 

He pushed his way into the room and settled back down by Brad, not before handing him the coffee which he gratefully sipped at. 

"What did they say?" Brad asked after hissing, the coffee was very hot. 

"They're waiting for the test results. Should be able to tell us what is wrong in ten." 

Brad nodded and risked another sip while he thought about the situation. 

"We will wait for the results on Jack before we get started. Then we can focus on what you've done today, and how we can explain it to Division without giving them reason to start an investigation. Logically, we should be able to tell them that you and Jack stopped the bomb. That's what happened, technically... Well its the bare bones of it anyway. If we can explain the other details away I think we can get away without telling them of your intentions today." 

Tony nodded over his paper cup, keeping quiet. Not that he wasn't grateful for Brads help, he was ecstatic, he just couldn't focus on this now. He was glad Brad understood, he couldn't believe this turn of events. He thought back to the old saying he had read in a book as a child and had never forgot, what was it now, something about your enemies becoming friends... It was certainly something like that. He couldn't help but think about the irony of it now, what a funny thing fate was. 


	24. Jacks condition

Tony finished his coffee quickly and crushed the thin paper cup in his fist, reminding himself that getting angry would do no good. He wanted to storm up to the nurses desk, show his badge and demand they tell him what was wrong. But he knew he couldn't, Hammond would go berserk and the nurse would still tell him to wait. So he sat still on the chair, his body now titled towards the window. He gazed out of it watching the cars drive by, one by one like ants. He silently wondered where they were all going and if they were ever aware of the constant danger they were often in. Probably not, he thought, with a touch of anger; he would give anything to be in there position, oblivious to this life of terror the whole world was consumed in. 

A glance at Brad implied he was in similar thoughts, his eyes fixed on his hands folded in his lap, his brow furrowed. Tony wondered what was going through his mind, he had never been able to relate to Brad before, he always viewed his as some stick from Division. He smiled to himself as he realised Brad was far from that, and he too had a past; imagine that. 

The nurse wandered into the room just over the ten minutes she's promised Tony, and a large framed man in his late fifties stepped in behind her with a brown file under his arm, Tony assumed it was Jacks. Once the introductions were out of the way Tony moved to stand against the wall, anxious to hear the doctors words. Brad stayed seated but the doctor still held his attention too. 

"We studied the head scans extensively, and found nothing, not even an area of bruising from the fight." 

Tony let out a shaky breath but reminded himself if this was his heart the situation would be much, much worse. 

"The area of concern was his heart, as you know, due to earlier damage, so we were very cautious there. However, once again we found nothing to implement what knocked him out. As you imagine, by this point we were very concerned." He broke off to relieve some of the tension, Tony's face looked as though it would crack, his teeth and fists repeatedly clenched in sync. He was worried sick. 

"After a general assessment we realised that Mr. Bauer had a simple case of dehydration, with extensive exhaustion. We've already taking care of one of those, were pumping fluids into him as we speak; and the exhaustion can only be cured if he allows himself to rest." 

"So what was the problem?" Brad asked, glancing at Tony who still hadn't taken his eyes from the doctor. Brad didn't think he had even blinked since the man entered the room. 

"Well, see this is the problem. We knew something must be wrong, we haven't had to sedate him throughout any time since he arrived, he is still unconscious. That raised a few flags. I spoke to my friend Mark who studied the brain scans, he suggested something I hadn't thought of actually, which made sense. When someone is in a very stressful situation, sometimes it can become too much, the pressure. It turns into fear, sometimes it doesn't. But there are many cases when one of these happens, and the brain tries to shut itself down, to protect itself from the pain and the fear the stress induces. Given my knowledge of Mr. Bauer's actions before he was brought here, I'd say its right." 

Tony pushed off from the wall, he couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Your saying Jack had a mental breakdown?" 

"No no no, not at all. In these rare cases, the patient can come around, once the brain removes its defences, and the patients are fine." 

"So he is in a coma like state?" Brad asked, wishing the doctor would get to the point. 

"I see why you may think that, but no, its similar, but not as drastic or worrying as a coma... Take an alcoholic, who drinks and then get depressed. Eventually this person would pass out from drinking right? Well the current theory is that this isn't induced by the alcohol at all, but the pain the depression causes. The brain shuts itself down and the person passes out to escape the emotional pain. The person would wake up fine the very next morning... Well maybe with a hangover," he added, getting a chuckle from the nurse. 

"Right; so, he should come around when he has slept this off, and he will be fine?" Tony asked for reassurance, he didn't want false hopes. 

"That's exactly it. Were expecting him to come around some time tomorrow once his body has had time to catch up on sleep and the brain sees there's no more threat of the stress." 

Tony couldn't keep the grin from his face. "So can we see him?" 

"I'm afraid not, sir. Given Mr.Bauer's case, we feel it better if he stay isolated until he comes around and we have given him a final assessment. We were given the impression that his shut down was induced by work, if this is the case, seeing co-workers could prolong his recovery or make things worse. I'm sure you can understand this," he added kindly, seeing the younger of the twos disappointment. 

"That's fine, doctor, thank you. If you don't mind we will be using this room a little longer, then we will be out of your way. You have both of our cell numbers, call us when he is allowed visitors." 

The doctor nodded then left, the nurse trailing behind him, a large smile still glued to her face. 'Occupational hazard,' Tony thought to himself cheekily, trying not to laugh. 

Brad stood up and closed the door behind them, before sitting back down in his chair, not before dragging it over to the small coffee table. He began to start up his laptop as he spoke, "I think it's best we clear up this mess here, too many interruptions at CTU, and there's more chance of them finding out what really happened there, okay?" 

"Sure," Tony replied, still smiling as he sat down, relief overcoming him. Jack would be okay, and he wasn't going to get dragged through the mud for his actions, it was better than he had ever expected it to turn out. 


	25. Another shortie almost finished!

Brad and Tony talked rapidly for a little over three hours, Tony giving up every detail of his scheme, Brad interjecting for clarification at times, he had to make sure he understood everything. If they made a mistake now, it would be both there heads on a platter. 

"Okay, Tony. I think if we get lucky we can explain this away. We can place the mistakes on the LAPD, Division will have no problem believing that. Plus, we can sweep a lot of this under the rug seen as you did get the man actually planning to do this. Seen as Jack got his secondary bomb, we can get him to admit it was his, no problem. I'm guessing it was anyway, so there will be no foul play there." 

"What about Beanie and Jay? They are gonna go crazy when they find out I involved my own friends in a government matter," he whined, he was getting tired and anxious, he just wanted it to all go away now. He had done his job, why was it that that alone was never enough, he wondered? 

"We leave them out of it. Just say they were potential informants who gave information but didn't need to be brought in. Maybe you cut a deal with them? I don't know, it doesn't matter. What's important here is that you stick to the bare facts. You got the bomber, but a secondary bomb had been put in place. Jack followed the lead on his own and dismantled the bomb. Remember, Jack still doesn't know about Beanie and Jay, he is thinking he worked this all up. He is gonna be p!ssed at you when you tell him. In fact, you shouldn't mention those two friends at all, as if Jack does too, there going to get suspicious."

When Tony didn't respond Brad looked up over the computer he was typing at. He was cutting and changing Tony's words, making the story plausible. It looked good so far, he wouldn't be surprised if he and Jack were credited for this job, if only they knew he thought, allowing himself to smirk at the thought. He stopped when he saw Tony who was still frustrated, concerned with both this and Jack, Brad guessed. 

"Look Alemida, why don't we call it a day. I have all I need here. Once I round off the edges I'll e-mail you a copy. Familiarise yourself with it in case anyone from Division wants to interview you. I doubt it as I'm going to submit this as your debrief. Your going to have to make Jack understand though, otherwise your reports will conflict. I'll e-mail him a copy too, make sure he reads it when he's out of here."

"Thanks Brad," he muttered, feeling like a child, feeling sorry for himself despite the fact that Brad was bending over backwards to help him out. Just why am I so down, he wondered. It wasn't the debrief and it wasn't Jacks condition, it was how Jack would react to the news. He followed Brad out of the room and decided that he would go home and rest. He would call Chase and Kim first thing and give them an update. At least he had managed to keep them completely out of this mess, which was good. Maybe it would be easier if the three of them told Jack there set up, if Kim was involved he wouldn't be too angry, he could never get mad at her. 


	26. THE FINAL!

Tony awoke the next morning and sleepily checked his e-mail with a cup of coffee by his side; he hadn't slept much through the night. Hammond, true to his word, had already mailed him with his final debrief. He skimmed over it nodding approval, this would be accepted. Unless Jack gave them any problems over his being fooled, he would be okay. He checked his cell and saw he had a voice-mail from Brad too. He played it back on loudspeaker. 

"Tony its Brad. Everything fine. You and Jack will probably get a recommendation for your actions this time, imagine that. The hospital called, Jack's awake. You can visit him when your ready. You had better tell Kim too, she might want to know what's been going on with her father." 

He hung up the phone grinning from ear to ear as he hurriedly dressed, one more hurdle to clear then he was home free. Mission complete and Jack would be back. He prayed Jack would understand why they had done this, maybe he would finally come out of the trance he had been living in for the past 6 months. He had seemed to be very involved in this case, which was good, it had taken a while to get him to care about his work again; but it was a start. Now they had to make him live his life again. Despite his pleasure that this would be over soon, Tony couldn't help get the feeling that Jack wouldn't accept there gesture, he could very well be insulted by there implications of him and the way they were trying to help. 

The ride to the hospital was quiet. Tony drove, while Chase and Kim sat in the back, engulfed in silence, each had there own worries and queries running through there minds. Tony still worried Jack would be angry with him, and would claim Tony had let his personal feelings cloud his judgement of the mission. He would say he had compromised the operation. He hadn't really, he had had control over it right from the start. He could have stopped it before any of it started, Jack would say, and rightly so. Still, Tony felt they had done the right thing, he knew Jack was already 'waking up,' as he had put his usual determination into the operation, something that had last been seen on the Mexico mission. After that day all enthusiasm had gone, until yesterday. It was a change for the better, and Tony hoped it would stay and his personal change would soon follow. 

Kim had barely spoken since the operation had gone underway the day before. She had felt guilty when she moved in with Chase, six months ago, under the pretences that her father had scared her away. It wasn't true and she felt terrible. Nobody had expected it to take this long before a window came up for them to use, but that didn't matter. She had deceived him, they all had, the people he thought he could trust. He would never accept there excuse, he would be both furious and distraught. The worst thing was, she knew, he would hide it all away, from her at least. 

She understood why they had done what they did, they had to tip him over the edge, make him consider doing the unthinkable, end his life. The reports from Tony indicated that was the only direction he was headed towards anyway. She found some comfort that this would, hopefully, change his line of thinking. Make him realise just what he has got, a life worth living. Although she wouldn't blame him if it did the opposite to him and make him grow even more distant and untrusting. The only person she would blame was herself, for putting him through such emotional pain. 

Chase's thoughts were a mixture of the two. Guilt for he knew Jack would feel betrayal at first. But also hope, that he would recognise there actions for what they were. They had had the best intentions throughout this, thinking of him and him only. He hoped Jack would look past both his rage and his pride, and admit that he would have lost it, gone of the track, if they hadn't done this - made him realise that he did have something to live for. That people do care for him would be a start, and once he started to get better, he would realise he has to do so for himself. Chase hoped to get a chance to chat with Jack on his own, he wanted to talk to him about CTU. That was another factor in his demise, having to take weekly urine tests to make sure he hadn't relapsed would not help him move on, it was constantly holding him back. He needed a fresh start, a clean slate, and now they would be there to support him with each new step he took. He could only hope it would be enough. 

When they arrived at the reception desk for the floor Jack was on they were told by another chirpy nurse that he was currently unavailable. He had woken earlier but was still groggy, the doctors had wanted to run more head scans and give him a secondary assessment before they declared him recovered from his earlier shutdown. All three of them accepted this, happy nothing more was wrong with him. They were taken to a waiting room where they would stay until Jack was back in his room and aware of there presence. If he wanted to see them, his doctor would come get them. 

The wait was barely fifteen minutes, before the same man from the night before, Dr. Paulson greeted them and informed them of Jack's situation. 

"We evaluated Jacks condition, mentally, he is stable. He's talking and thinking just fine, his mind has completely recovered from the shutdown. Physically, he is still tired. Although the exhaustion isn't as drastic as it was yesterday, he still clearly needs to rest. Because of this, I tried to keep him in one more night. He hasn't protested yet, but I get the feeling he isn't pleased about it. Maybe one of you can convince him to stay, he really needs the rest." 

"I'm sure we will talk him around doctor, thank you. Now may I see my father?" 

"Yes. Before you go in, I must warn you I am very uncomfortable with him having visitors so soon. I think he will encounter some of the symptoms from yesterday, stress, pressure, even something like frustration can trigger another shutdown. It's quite likely now, due to the fact that his brain is still overly cautious of his emotions. I tried to talk him out of this visit, but he was very determined to speak to you." 

"Doctor, I appreciate the concern," Tony began, "but we have information we need to tell Jack, now. This is going to stir up emotions, both good and bad. I'm sorry about this, but it can't be helped." 

"Than lets hope his mind copes with the duress," Paulson said, his discomfort clear. Chase still hadn't spoken, he was very uncertain about seeing Jack, knowing the pain he would feel because of him. He had let him down, the one person he worked hardest to please, and he had done this. Chase hoped Jack really would understand. 

Jack was sat in a chair by the small square window when they entered the room. Dr. Paulson announced that he would come by later and left them to it. Jack didn't move, nor did he acknowledge there presence. He didn't even look up to see who his visitors. Tony and Chase waited by the door frame but Kim took a few hesitant steps forward, making it no further than the bed. 

"Do you want to tell me what's going on?" His voice was soft, low, but there was already a hint of sadness to it, and he hadn't herd anything yet. 

Jack raised his head and looked at Kim, his heart felt as though it would break in two. He wanted to run up to her and hug her and apologise for making her leave, but he didn't. His pain filled eyes lingered on her for a moment before doing the same on both Tony and Chase. Suddenly everything made sense. Kim's departure, Chases anger, Tony's hurtful words, trying to belittle him at CTU. They were in this together, whatever this was. 

Kim stayed by the bed, holding herself back. She wanted to throw her arms around him and cry and apologise over and over, but he had to understand before she could do that, or it would mean nothing and feel as fake as this whole charade was. Tony took a step forward, taking it upon himself to explain. This was his mess, he thought, he was responsible. 

"Jack we did this for you," he started cautiously. "Before we get into the details, just remember that."

Jack said nothing, just stared at him with his cold glare that seemed to look right through Tony. He continued. 

"You were falling apart, we all thought you needed to be put back together. We knew you wouldn't accept help, your too stubborn to admit you have problems. So we disguised our attempt to help you through the bomb threat." 

Still nothing, he hadn't even blinked. Surprisingly, he still looked calm. Tony took it as a comforting sign, although he knew Jacks mood could change drastically. 

"When Kim left and Chase took his leave, we planned it all out. We would isolate you, hoping that once the mission was over you would realise just how many people really care about you Jack. Only the mission took much longer than we expected, but it didn't matter anyway, you were already deteriorating-" 

"Don't you dare tell me I was falling apart, you do not know what happens in my head, you are not my conscience." Jack snapped, his face reddening with anger. 

His comments angered Tony up in turn. He wanted to prove his point, he was slightly encouraged by the fact that Jack had finally responded. 

"What are you telling me, that you weren't a mess? That's questionable Jack. Turning into work was too much effort for you, when you did make it you did nothing. I saw you Jack, some days you would stare at nothing for hours. Not to mention these..." He added, pulling out the pill bottle of antidepressants Jack had thrown away previously, in his office's trash can. 

"If you were doing so good why did you throw away your medication, seems to me like you were trying to make things harder for yourself." Tony knew he was challenging Jack, he hoped this would turn in his favour. 

"I didn't need them." Jack muttered, quiet once more. The look on his face broke Ton's heart, he looked so tired, vulnerable, defeated; as though Tony's words were finally sinking in. He really didn't think he had any reason to live. 

"You do Jack, don't you see, that's exactly why we did this." Tony said softly, moving forward and placing a hand on his shoulder. "But now you know this, and you know we are here for you, we can get you past this, you can live your life again Jack, don't you want that?" 

Jack looked down at his hands, now more than aware that Tony's words were getting to him. He had to change the subject, make this less personal so he could take control. 

"The whole case, you were in control of it right from the start?" 

"Yes. Well, up to the second bomb, we didn't know about that. We had a lucky escape with that." He added, hoping to see a smirk or smile from Jack, but his face stayed like stone. "Hammond's now in on this, he sent you a copy of the debrief I submitted, in case Division questions you, so we're both on the same page..." 

"Chase you were in on this too?" Jack suddenly asked, still keeping his eyes off his daughter, he was scared that if he looked at her he would break down. 

"Yeah Jack I was. We did what we thought was best for you." 

That was all that needed to be said, Chase thought. Strangely enough, Jack nodded at him. In understand or approval he didn't know, both he hoped. He hadn't expected it, so he simply nodded back, before scratching his stump of an arm to occupy himself. 

"I can't just accept this guys. You lied to me, deceived me, and most of all, you played me. All of you. I know you had the right intentions, I do. But thats not the point. You thought I had fallen off the wagon, fine; but the point is, that should have been my decision to make. Nobody else's. You took that from me, and I'm... I'm just a little confused still." 

Tony nodded whilst Jack spoke before adding, "We understand that Jack, we really do; we expected as much." 

Jack was looking back down at his hands again, shyly playing with his fingers. "May I speak to Kim alone?" 

"Yeah, we will just, get, erm, go get some coffee." Tony said, he and Chase heading out of the room. Before they left Jack called back to them and got up from the chair, walking over to them. 

"I'm sorry, I can't imagine how much trouble you went to, for me. You both put your ases on the line for me. I appreciate it." 

He held out his hand which Tony shook softly, before turning to Chase. He saw the stump and immediately felt his stomach clench as he looked down at his feet, trying to fight off embarrassment from his blunder and the guilt now seeping in. Chase knew the look all too well and felt bad, Jack was still blaming himself for his hand. 

"Its all right Jack," Chase said softly, before doing something which surprised them both, pulling Jack into a hug. It lasted seconds before they managed to pull away and all three of them laughed slightly, Kim watching from the bed, a smile on her lips. 

"Thanks Chase," Jack said, "Both of you. I mean it." 

Both Tony and Chase nodded once more before leaving the room, feeling relieved about the whole ordeal. Jack seemed to have accepted there actions, and maybe, just maybe they had got it through to him that they really did care about him. 

Jack watched the two men saunter down the hallway before turning to face Kim, his expression had transformed back to the one which reminded Kim of a shy and quiet little boy on his first day of school, he had so many young mannerisms it was scary. 

"I'm sorry." Kim simply said, raising her hands in defeat, she knew there was no way she could show him just how bad she felt for putting him through this. The words meant so much yet at the same time so little, they both knew. 

Jack watched as tears fell down from her eyes, not realising they were tracing down his own cheeks. He pulled her into a gentle hug, her head resting on his shoulder, his hand on the back of her head, holding her close. 

"Sweetheart, all that matters is that you are here. I have missed you so very very much you have no idea. Please don't be sorry for anything, I understand now, I realise why you did what you did," he whispered into her ear, his tears turning into sobs as the realisation hit him. "You guys were right, another week or so and I'd probably be dead. But seeing you now, here with me, I know what I need to do sweetie, I need to start over again. With you, with life. Thank you so much for making me understand." 

No more words were said between the two, they simply stood together, rocking back an forth as they cried. Tears of exhaustion, pain, relief, happiness, hope. The tears that are cried when a baby is born, by proud parents who can only imagine the life there child had ahead of them, happy they could bring something into the world. They were crying for themselves, they had a life, now they could start living it again. 

The End! 

Thank you very much for reading! 


End file.
